


Scandalous!

by mocharetti



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Humor, lots of fluff, post-reveal, puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 22:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7379905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mocharetti/pseuds/mocharetti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alya thinks Marinette is cheating on Adrien with Chat Noir. Nino thinks Adrien is cheating on Marinette with Ladybug. In the midst of all this crazy, mixed-up drama, friendships are put to the test while Alya and Nino discover that there's more to their two best friends than what meets the eye.</p><p>(Post-Reveal)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette stretched her legs out while sitting on her comfy chair on the balcony. She gazed thoughtfully at the glowing Paris rooftops, the end of her pencil lightly touching her lips while her design notebook lay open in her lap, displaying the sketch of a half-completed dress. It was eight o'clock, but night had already fallen. She intended to go to bed at a normal hour for once, but doubted that would happen as soon as she was once again absorbed into her new design.

"Hello, Princess."

Marinette snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of the familiar voice, but smiled to herself soon after. Chat Noir leaned against the railing of her balcony, a smug smile on his lips.

"Patrol ended an hour ago, you know," Marinette said, setting aside her pencil and notebook.

"I know, I know," he said with a light sigh. "Father's actually home tonight and I didn't want to hear his usual 'Adrien, I've scheduled fifty new photoshoots' or 'Adrien, you're getting fat' or just his usual disappointed looks and blatant disregard of my existence."

"Mm, so you're avoiding him?"

"Basically."

Marinette and Chat were now both leaning against the railing, taking in the beautiful view and simply enjoying each other's presence. Marinette instinctively rested her head against his shoulder, his closeness being something she longed for more than ever. Even during school, it was hard for the two to stay apart. Alya and Nino would always mock them with disgusted faces, accusing them of being "sickeningly cute" and saying that they regretted ever setting them up in the first place. But If it weren't for Nino and Alya, perhaps Marinette and Adrien would have never grown as close as they did before their accidental identity reveal.

In fact, just a month ago on Valentine's Day, Alya had set up a poll on her blog for the students at Collège Françoise Dupont. Marinette and Adrien were at the top of the poll for "relationship goals." On the other hand, Marinette would also sometimes get death glares from random girls at her school, and it took Alya's insight for Marinette to figure out why.

"They're jealous of you, Mari. You weren't the only girl with your eyes on Mr. Teen Heartthrob Model Boy." Marinette had blushed furiously, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious whenever she was with Adrien on the school grounds.

But all in all, it was surreal. As Ladybug, she trusted Chat Noir with her life. She had always put off his relentless flirting, dismissing it like it was no big deal. Marinette's heart belonged to Adrien Agreste only, even more so when they began spending more time together as civilians. To find out that Chat was actually Adrien...it had intensified her love for the same boy even more. It had been hard at first, trying to remember the fact that the two main boys in her life were actually the same person. Marinette had been scared that Adrien wouldn't like her as much once he found out that his perfect, amazing Ladybug was actually just human disaster Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She remembered the moment in vivid detail...

_They were in an alleyway that was halfway between school and Marinette's house. "Are you kidding?" he had said, laughing with glee as they held hands together in the rain after Marinette had expressed her concerns. Their clothes were getting drenched, but they couldn't care less. "The fact that you're Marinette and Ladybug just makes you even more amazing, if that was even possible! I loved you both, bugaboo, don't you realize?"_

_Marinette had stared at him in disbelief, watching her idiot (boyfriend? At the time, she wasn't sure) getting soaked in the rain. Adrien's hair now covered half his face, wet and slick with water. "I was losing my mind, Mari! I couldn't stop thinking of you—both of you—and it just felt so wrong. I thought I was betraying you, one way or the other. But don't you see…?" he said, pulling her closer. "I didn't think I could love you any more. And I'm so happy I finally found you."_

_That had been their first true kiss. Passionate, gentle, and carefree all at the same time. Marinette had never known bliss until that moment. She didn't believe in soulmates until the day she found out that Adrien was her partner, one of her best friends._

Marinette brought herself back into the present, smiling to herself at the memory.

"What's up, bugaboo?" Chat asked, noticing her smile.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just remembering that day in the rain."

Chat smiled with her, the fondness of that particular memory giving him a tingling sensation all throughout his body. "Did it go something like... _this_?"

Chat pulled her close, and Marinette blinked for a moment in confusion until she figured out what was happening. She moved into the kiss instinctively, their lips pressing together, feeling as if they were always meant to be this way. The glowing, luminous lights of Paris outlined the two superheroes, the black figures of their bodies pressed together in the kiss. They might have stayed that way forever—Chat's arms wrapped around her waist, Marinette's hand resting on top of his shoulder—had it not been for the trap door to the balcony opening with a loud _thud._

"Marinette, hey I— _woah._ " Alya stared at the two superheroes, her eyes widening at the sight of them kissing passionately in the moonlight. The two had broken apart the moment they heard the trap door open, but it was too late. Alya had seen all that she needed to see.

"Alya…!" Marinette said, her face turning red. There was no reasonable explanation for what her best friend had just seen. At least, none that she could tell Alya.

Alya glared at Marinette, and then at Chat. Only her upper body was visible above the trapdoor, but without another word, she sunk back into Marinette's room and closed the lid above with an angry _thud_. Chat and Marinette exchanged worried expressions.

"Well...this is your problem for the time-being," Chat said nervously.

"What am I going to tell her?" Marinette said with a groan. All she had wanted was a stress-free relationship, but that was all going down the drain.

"That you're cheating on your perfect, amazing, and most lovable boyfriend who loves you more than anything else in the world with Paris' most attractive superhero?" Chat suggested unhelpfully.

"Thanks, that's _exactly_ what I'll tell her," Marinette said sarcastically.

"Honestly, Mari, I have no idea. You're welcome to just blame it all on me if you want," Chat shrugged.

Chat gave her one last reassuring hug before leaping off of her balcony and disappearing off into the adjacent rooftops of Paris. Marinette gathered up all her courage, opened the trapdoor that led into her bedroom, and prayed that Alya would just be a little understanding.

 

* * *

 

Alya was crouched down on the floor, apparently looking for something. Marinette landed on the floor of her room, not knowing what to say.

"Your mom was kind enough to let me in," Alya said coldly, as if answering Marinette's unspoken question. "I thought I left my math textbook here because we were studying together the other day."

Marinette stood there, still not speaking. She knew her friend very well. Alya was not one to just let things slide by, she always spoke her mind. Marinette had never been on the receiving end of a full-out Alya lecture, but she had a feeling that today was the day.

Alya finally stood up, having found her textbook underneath Marinette's desk. She looked at Marinette with the most disappointed, semi-angry look that Marinette had ever seen on her best friend's face.

"How could you?" Alya asked simply.

Silence hung in the air. Marinette wanted more than ever to scream 'I didn't cheat on Adrien! Chat Noir is Adrien!' But of course she couldn't betray her boyfriend's secret identity. Marinette trusted Alya with so many things, so many secrets. Except for the whole 'Me an my boyfriend are the two superheroes you blog about and obsess over' situation. It was just too risky. With Alya running the Ladybug blog, it didn't make things any easier.

"Alya, it wasn't like that at all," Marinette tried to explain. "I would never do anything to hurt Adrien, you know that."

Alya gave a humorless laugh. "I _saw_ you, Mari. That wasn't just a quick peck on the cheek. That was something else altogether, and you know it. You say you wouldn't do anything to hurt Adrien but you _did_. I never expected something like that from you of all people."

Marinette turned red, her throat suddenly feeling very dry. "No, I swear it wasn't like that! Chat visits me sometimes at night, we've always been friends. He just...he just wanted to know what it's like to kiss a girl...because he's never kissed anyone before!"

Marinette knew it was one of the dumbest lies she had ever come up with. Still, she needed an explanation.

Alya raised an eyebrow. "Look, I know Chat Noir is really flirtatious and suave and whatever. And I know that there are many guys who would give anything to be with you because let's face it, you're hot as hell, whether you admit it or not. But you are dating _Adrien Agreste_ , the boy you've been obsessing over for so long. And now that you're finally together, you're just throwing it all away?"

Alya, continued, shaking her head disappointedly. "Adrien is my friend. And finding out that you've been cheating on him for god knows how long, it hurts. That boy is crazy for you! It's actually kind of scary how in love with you he is. Before the four of us started hanging out together, he would barely acknowledge you. Just a few friendly smiles and 'good mornings,' and you would still freak out over just that. Now? He'll constantly ask where you are when you're not there. He can't take his eyes off of you when you're around. He practically blew up when Chloe insulted you last week, don't you remember? He's like a lost puppy without you, and he only truly started opening up when he got to know you."

"I know…" Marinette said softly. "I love him a lot. More than I think he realizes. He means so much to me, I wouldn't...I wouldn't ever hurt him. I couldn't."

"Then why _did_ you?" Alya asked exasperatedly. "Look, you do what you want with your life. I obviously can't stop you. The only thing I can do is tell you when you're being an idiot, and I've done that. As for Adrien, I won't tell him. I'll leave that up to you if you ever choose to get yourself together."

Marinette opened her mouth to speak again, but Alya was already heading out the door. Marinette just stood there, feeling so ashamed of herself over something she hadn't even done. She hadn't cheated on Adrien in the slightest, but Alya made her feel like she had.

Tikki finally peaked her head out of Marinette's pocket and flew out. Marinette collapsed onto her bed, staring at the ceiling in the dim light of her bedroom.

"It's okay, Marinette," Tikki chirped reassuringly. "You didn't actually cheat on Adrien."

"I know, Tikki," Marinette sighed. "It's not Adrien I'm worried about, it's Alya. She thinks I'm a cheating, ungrateful girlfriend. Her image of me is ruined."

"But she's also your friend. In her eyes, she'll realize that you made a mistake and move on. Best friends are always there for each other, even if one of them completely messes up."

"I hope you're right," Marinette said, dreading tomorrow's school day. She didn't know how Alya would act around her after this whole mess.

 

* * *

 

Marinette grumbled, half-asleep as she felt someone trying to nudge her awake. "Mom, five more minutes…" she groaned, her voice muffled by her pillow.

"But you gotta go to school, bugaboo. Rise and shine!"

"Ah!" Marinette shrieked, sitting up quickly and throwing a pillow at Adrien, who for some reason was sitting on her bed.

"What are you doing in my room?" she demanded, taking the cup that he had brought for her and putting it on her bedside table.

"Your dad let me in. He was absolutely _delighted_ that I brought you coffee and your mom told me to wake you up while I was at it. She was going to come upstairs anyway and she thought I should do the honors instead." Adrien was grinning widely, seemingly amused at her reaction.

Marinette, although never complaining about Adrien's presence, just felt like he was too much to handle this early in the morning. God, forget the sun—this boy and his golden locks practically _were_ the sun. Not to mention, Marinette was annoyed over the fact that her parents so willingly let people into her home without even bothering to tell her or give her a moment's notice. But, out of all the people she would choose to wake up to in her bed, Adrien was definitely at the top of her list. Although she was suddenly very self-conscious about Adrien seeing her bedhead, and she hadn't even washed her face yet.

"I appreciate the gesture…" Marinette said, "But doesn't the gorilla guy drop you off at the school's doorstep every morning? How did you get away?"

Adrien chuckled nervously, in a way that Marinette recognized as being the ' _oh shit I gotta deal with that later_ ' laugh. "I sneaked out. I left Nathalie a sticky note though. I said the weather was nice and that I wanted to walk to school."

She smiled. "Thanks for the coffee by the way, you're a true gentleman," Marinette said.

"No _paw_ -blem," Adrien said with a wink. He moved closer to Marinette, snuggling up beside her on her bed.

"I hope Alya didn't give you too much trouble last night," he said, closing his eyes and practically talking into her shoulder. Marinette blushed a little at how close together they were, but she was getting used to it. She had quickly found out that Adrien was a really touchy-feely guy and didn't quite understand how close was _too_ close. He was literally like a cat, and was currently snuggled right up to her just like an actual cat would be.

"It was bad, but it could have been worse," Marinette admitted. "She thinks I'm a horrible person who heartlessly cheated on you."

"Aww, Mari, how could you do that to me?" Adrien said in a falsely hurt tone.

"What can I say, I've got a thing for furries," Marinette teased.

"I'm _not_ a furry. I do not sexually identify as a cat—"

"Whatever you say," Marinette chuckled, lightly pushing Adrien away and getting up from her bed. "I'm going to change now, so you better get going downstairs. Help yourself to whatever you want from the bakery, I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind."

"Of course they won't. They _adore_ me," Adrien said with a large grin. "Your dad nearly squished me to death when I walked into the bakery. His hugs are brutal."

"Mhm. And I'm assuming my mom gave you a giant bag of macaroons and cookies already?" Marinette knew that her mom gave free bakery goods only to the people she really, really liked.

"Yep. My dietician would have a heart attack if she saw me accepting it."

"You're already so thin. You need to eat more," Marinette said, actually slightly concerned over Adrien's skinny frame. She saw what he ate everyday for lunch—a measly salad with a water bottle—and Marinette knew it was not okay. She couldn't believe that despite eating so little, he would still have plenty of energy for all his extracurriculars and his action-packed adventures as Chat Noir. Marinette made sure to tempt him with as many things from the bakery as possible.

Adrien hopped out of her bed, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and headed downstairs. Marinette had no doubt that in a few moment's time, Adrien would be trying to help her parents out at the bakery. The easy stuff—greeting customers, putting the goods on the shelves—he really enjoyed it. This would of course intensify her parents' liking for him, if that were even possible.

Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng didn't just approve of Adrien, they _loved_ him. It was as if they had adopted Adrien as the son they never had. Marinette had once overheard a very interesting conversation between her parents one night. "He's going to be our son-in-law one day anyway, I hope. Might as well get used to having him around," her mother had chuckled. Her father responded with something about "beautiful grandchildren" with black hair and green eyes.

 _I'm going to die_ was all Marinette could think as she stood discreetly on the stairwell, overhearing her parents discussing her future with Adrien Agreste. The thought became even weirder when she replaced "Adrien Agreste" with "Chat Noir."

 _Oh my god_ , Marinette thought, imagining a life of relentless, never-ending puns. Adrien would probably adopt an entire litter of kittens. He would refer to the children as kittens instead of kids, there was no doubt about that. He would buy the children ladybug and cat-themed clothes. He would watch anime in the middle of the night and then strut around the house, constantly looking like he was posing without realizing it and driving her insane with not only his awful jokes, but overall gorgeousness.

Marinette blushed to herself as she changed her clothes, realizing that she was getting way, way ahead of herself. She was only 16. She didn't need to think about marriage and kids, that was all too far away. And yet...when she thought of her future, she couldn't help but just know for a fact that Adrien would be in it. She wasn't sure of a lot of things, but she was certain that Adrien had to be a part of her life. Marinette had a strong feeling that Adrien felt that way too.

All she knew was that Adrien—Chat Noir, whichever—made her happier than she could have ever dreamed to be.

 

* * *

 

Marinette and Adrien walked to the school grounds from her house, arriving with ten minutes or so left to spare until it was time to go inside. Many students were hanging around the school grounds, talking with friends or trying to cram last minute for any first-period tests. Adrien, Marinette, Nino, and Alya met up customarily in the mornings at a shaded area near the picnic tables. Alya and Nino were already there, and Nino perked up when saw the two approaching.

"Adrien, bro, I saw your sick new billboard on the way to school," Nino teased, lightly punching his best friend on the shoulder.

Adrien blushed, cringing slightly. He knew exactly what billboard Nino was referring to. Not too long ago, his father had insisted that with summer approaching quickly, he should get into swimsuit modeling. Adrien couldn't believe that his father had considered this at all—he was too skinny to be a swimsuit model. He wasn't muscular or buff like most male swimsuit models were. Sure, he had a six-pack from fencing and his intense acrobatic skills as Chat Noir. But apart from that, he just didn't fit the type.

Regardless, of course he had to do what his father wanted, and Adrien experienced one of the most awkward photoshoots he had ever done. It had been new territory for him, being shirtless and knowing that all of Paris would get to see him with nothing but boys' swim trunks on. He very much preferred to be fully-clothed during photoshoots, and started to wonder what other uncomfortable modeling experiences he would have to deal with as he got older. After all, getting older in the modeling industry meant stranger, much different territory than what he was used to. It also meant a much stricter diet, much to Adrien's disdain.

"Oh, it's up already?" Adrien said, trying to avoid a nervous edge to his voice. It was the last thing he wanted to see during his almost nightly patrols.

At the same time, Adrien noticed that Alya was determinedly on her phone, seemingly ignoring the conversation around her. Marinette stood there awkwardly, probably thinking of what to say to her friend.

"Are you updating your blog?" she asked innocently.

"No, just looking at the comments on my newest post." Alya answered simply.

"What was it about?" Marinette pressed on.

Alya paused, then dismissively said "I don't think you would appreciate what I wrote very much."

Adrien didn't understand. Usually, Alya would practically force Marinette to keep up with blog, always asking her friend for feedback and personal opinions. It was highly unusual for Alya to just tell her that she shouldn't read her blog. Had Marinette downplayed whatever happened between the two last night?

"Oh," was all Marinette could say, most likely just as shocked.

The first bell rang, and students began filing into the school. Curious, Adrien opened up the Ladyblog on his phone. Nino and Alya were a short distance ahead of Adrien and Marinette, who were lagging behind as Adrien's phone loaded the page. Marinette also seemed to be curious about what Alya had posted.

"Oh my god," Adrien groaned when the page finally loaded. The couple stopped, both reading the headline of the newest post that had already been read by over ten thousand people.

**"Chat Noir, a Player: Doesn't Ladybug Deserve Better?"**

The post went on to describe how problematic Chat Noir was. Of course Alya didn't include the actual, specific event that made her feel this way towards Chat. But she did give many examples of how Chat Noir's flirtatious, over-confident nature actually made him come off as a real jerk who just used his super power status to get whatever he wanted. She then stated that Chat was more of a sidekick, and that Ladybug was the real superhero who saved Paris from Akuma attacks.

Adrien was at least hopeful to see that most of the comments on this particular post were actually defending Chat. (He had a lot of fangirls.) There were "ladynoir" shippers who didn't agree with the post either, talking about how the two superheroes belonged together and that the post seemed biased. Of course, there were also a handful who responded with things like "yaaas, down with Chat."

"I can't believe she would do this," Marinette said.

"Relax, Mari. At least she's blaming Chat instead of you."

"Aren't you even a little offended?" Marinette questioned.

"I'm a little hurt. But Alya is my friend. Technically, she made this post because she felt bad for me! In her eyes, I'm the victim of an affair that Chat started. Isn't it ironic?" Adrien smiled weakly.

"You're amazing," was all Marinette could say.

The two walked onwards towards the school, hoping that all this drama would simply dissipate on its own and that it would not escalate any further.

How wrong they were. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're enjoying this so far! Please follow me on tumblr, my username is the same as it is on here. :) Don't forget to leave a comment and a kudo!


	2. Chapter 2

During library study hall, the four friends sat together as they usually did. For the sake of Adrien and Nino, Alya acted like there was nothing going on between her and Marinette. Nino and Adrien were talking to each other as usual, but Marinette was determinedly trying to make a decent conversation with her best friend.

"So, are you excited for the field trip tomorrow?" Marinette asked.

"Very," Alya responded, her phone out as usual. She was aggressively typing something out on her phone, making Marinette wonder if she was responding to the commenters on her post.

Marinette sighed, not knowing what else to mention. She didn't expect Alya to be back to normal by now, it hadn't even been twenty-four hours since the incident. But she knew that her friend would get over it in time. Marinette frowned at the thought of having to go to the field trip with an angry best friend. It would be so much more fun if Alya would be her normal, enthusiastic self.

"I for one am looking forward to the field trip," Adrien answered, sensing the tension between the two girls. "I love looking at art."

"Really? I think it's going to be a bummer," Nino said, munching on his cheese puffs. "Like, I just don't get art sometimes, you know? I could stare at a painting for hours and still see nothing but a bunch of weird shapes that someone clearly painted while they were high."

"I would be glad to help you interpret art, Nino," Adrien said, reaching into Nino's bag of cheese puffs and taking some.

"That's because _you're_ a work of art," Marinette said, squeezing Adrien's hand, saying it just to see Nino's reaction.

"No, _you_ are," Adrien answered, as if he was an actor in a soap opera. He brushed a lock of hair away from Marinette's eyes for added effect.

" _What_ did I tell you losers about PDA?" Nino groaned, throwing a cheese puff at Adrien's face.

Marinette giggled. "I don't say anything about you and Alya!"

"Yeah, well me and Alya are cool about it! You guys are just sickening."

Alya, however, who would have usually had a lot to say in this situation, remained silent. She simply looked from Marinette to Adrien, seemingly analyzing the two. Marinette felt a bit uncomfortable, knowing that she was probably wondering how Marinette could act like everything was completely normal between her and Adrien while Alya thought it clearly wasn't.

"What's up, Alya? You're like, weirdly quiet today," Nino observed, offering her some cheese puffs. Alya ignored her boyfriend.

"Marinette, I need to talk to you," Alya finally said. She got up from the table and motioned for Marinette to follow. Marinette got up hesitantly, not knowing what Alya wanted this time. Hadn't she said everything she needed to say yesterday?

The two girls stood face to face behind a large bookshelf near the back of the library, and there was nobody else around.

"Remember how I told you that I wouldn't tell Adrien about what I saw yesterday?"

Marinette nodded.

"I'm still not going to tell him. But," Alya said firmly, "I think _you_ should. Don't you feel even a little bit guilty? How can you just keep going like this while hiding something so—"

"Stop," Marinette finally interrupted. "I already told Adrien about Chat Noir." Technically, she wasn't lying at all.

Alya stared at her friend, looking dumbfounded. " _Adrien knows?_ "

"Yes."

"But...how? He doesn't seem mad at all. It's like nothing even happened," Alya said, visibly confused.

"He was mad at first. I told him this morning when we were walking to school. But then I explained the scenario, the whole situation, and he understood. You know, all the stuff that you wouldn't let me explain," Marinette added defensively.

Alya's face softened. "I'm sorry for being all up in your throat like that. It shouldn't have been any of my business...I can't believe Adrien handled it so well, though."

"Yeah, well, it's going to take a lot more than an overly-flirtatious catboy to break us apart," Marinette said with a nervous chuckle.

"I'm relieved to hear that you guys are doing so well. As a couple, I mean," Alya said with a smile. "Just...be more careful next time, okay? Guys like Chat Noir can be really manipulative, and I don't want anyone taking advantage of you."

"I know, Alya. I appreciate your concern," Marinette said to her friend.

"And Marinette, just one more thing…" Alya said, as they walked back to their table. "You're telling the truth, right? You wouldn't lie to me?"

"Of course not!" Marinette said, hoping her face hadn't started to turn red. She hated not being able to tell Alya. She wished she could tell her everything-about Ladybug, about Chat, about Adrien-but she couldn't. There was no way that she could. It was too risky.

"Good," Alya smiled. The girls got back to the table, returning to two very concerned looking boys.

"What was that about?" Nino asked.

"Nothing that concerns you. Just girl talk," Alya said dismissively.

Adrien looked at Marinette with concern. Marinette wrote something on the edge of her notebook paper, then slid it closer for Adrien to read.

_I've sorted everything out with Alya. It'll all be fine._

Adrien looked relieved when he read her note. Marinette was glad that she had managed the whole situation so gracefully when it could have all gone so wrong.

 

* * *

 

The following morning, Marinette's homeroom class gathered at the front of the school, waiting for their bus. At their grade level, field trips were very rare, so everyone was extra pumped for an excuse to miss all their other boring and sometimes complicated subjects. Marinette had always loved her sociology class, especially their current unit about society's relation to art.

"Adrikins!" said an annoyingly familiar voice. Marinette mentally groaned.

"We should sit together on the bus!" Chloe said, putting on the brightest smile possible in front of Adrien, completely ignoring Marinette.

"Er, that's nice of you to offer, Chloe. But I was already going to sit with Marinette," Adrien said, trying to sound as polite as possible.

Chloe laughed, putting an arm on his shoulder. "Oh, Adrikins, you're too sweet! I know you're concerned about Marinette having to sit all alone, but don't worry! Sabrina can sit with her."

Marinette visibly saw him cringe. "No, Chloe, I'm sitting with Marinette because I want to."

"See! He's such a sweetheart!" Chloe said loudly, somehow still in denial of Adrien and Marinette's relationship. The rest of the class just stared at her, and Marinette saw Juleka roll her eyes at Chloe before resuming her conversation with Rose.

Alya finally stepped in. "Chloe, they're dating. Of course they're going to sit together."

Chloe glared at Alya, then smiled coldly. "Fine. I was just offering because I felt sorry for poor Adrien. Having to deal with Marinette all the time, it must really suck. She's a walking disaster, that girl, and I mean, we all know Adrien could do so much better than her. Imagine all the other female models he's probably had _relations_ with already, if you know what I mean." Chloe said suggestively. "I was just trying to put him out of his misery, that's all."

Adrien looked like he wanted to punch her. "Chloe, I swear—" he began, but Marinette tried to restrain him.

"Don't, she's not worth it," Marinette said, holding his arm tightly. The last thing she wanted was a scene, or even worse, a reason for Adrien to get banned from going on the field trip. Not to mention, Adrien's father had made it very clear that even a little bit of trouble-making would give him a reason to pull him out of public school.

"Don't sweat it, Adrien," Alya said loudly. "We all know Chloe's just in denial that someone who has a personality a million times better than her is with Adrien instead of her. I mean, 'cause Marinette's not a cold, heartless bitch who takes every opportunity to make people miserable."

Now it was Chloe's turn to look like she wanted to punch someone. "Now listen here, you little _brat_ —" Chloe started, eyes narrowing and getting closer to Alya.

However, it was in that moment that the bus began pulling up to the crowd of students. As it did, the tires hit a puddle of muddy water on the side of the road that splashed onto Chloe's legs, soaking a good portion of her pants.

"My designer jeans!" Chloe shrieked, while the rest of the class laughed at her.

Even Adrien laughed despite his feeble efforts to restrain himself. The bus doors opened, and the class filed in one by one.

"After you, M'Lady," Adrien said with a courteous arm gesture. She stepped onto the bus, now very aware that Adrien was right behind her as she went up the steps of the bus. She was also aware that his face was probably very close to her rear. _That little shit,_ she thought, realizing that maybe his intentions hadn't been very chivalrous at all.

Marinette chose a seat near the back of the bus and immediately claimed the spot by the window. Adrien sat down beside her, and Nino and Alya chose the seat in front of them. Marinette adjusted herself comfortably, placing her pouch that had Tikki in it on her lap.

Tikki peaked out of Marinette's pouch, looking at Adrien's messenger bag. Sure enough, Plagg's glowing green eyes gazed back at her, and the mischievous Kwami beckoned for her to join him. Tikki's eyes shifted around her surroundings, and when she saw that Juleka and Rose, who were sitting across the aisle, were occupied, she flew into Adrien's bag. The two ancient fairies seemed to enjoy each other's presence.

"That cheese smells so strong," Marinette said, as Adrien opened his bag just a little so that the two kwamis had more light.

"Really? I've grown so used to the smell." Adrien complained. Marinette heard Plagg give a small, devious chuckle at their comments on cheese.

The bus began to move, and Marinette pulled out her phone. She intended to listen to some Jagged Stone on the 15-minutes bus ride to the art museum. Adrien also pulled out his phone, and Marinette saw that he was watching a video. She suddenly recognized it as anime.

"Oh my god, you _weeb,_  Marinette said condescendingly as she untangled her earbuds.

Adrien pouted in her direction, pretending to be hurt by her judgemental comment. He plugged in his earbuds and began watching Naruto, resting his head on Marinette's shoulder. They were both enjoying the bus ride, Marinette simply listening to her music while staring out the window, and Adrien watching his anime.

That was the beauty of it all, Marinette thought. They didn't need to do very much to make each other happy. There was no pressure for her to keep a conversation going, to keep him entertained. Here they were, sitting together on a bus ride, but not really saying a word. It didn't feel awkward in the slightest. They were so happily content just by being together and doing what they usually enjoyed doing.

 

* * *

 

When they arrived at the Louvre art museum, Marinette was breath-taken at the architecture of the place. There was a high, vaulted ceiling that let in lots of natural light, but the rest of the room was minimalistic and white in order to put more emphasis on the paintings. There were many tourists in here already, enjoying the new Picasso exhibit.

Their sociology teacher, Mrs. Dubois, addressed the class as they were in a group. "Okay class, now that we're here, I want you to partner up with whoever you sat with on the way here. I don't want anyone getting lost. Feel free to enjoy all of the exhibits, but remember to pick one particular painting that catches your interest. Write down the name of the painting, and for homework I want you all to write a paragraph explaining the symbolism and artist's intent for that particular painting."

After the announcement, Marinette, Adrien, Nino, and Alya began exploring the museum. Nino seemed generally disinterested, but he admitted that he would rather be here instead of learning calculus.

"Dude, check out that vending machine!" Nino exclaimed. "It's got _all_ the goods, man!" Adrien rolled his eyes but smiled at the fact that his friend was more excited over a vending machine instead of the hundred years-old art that was in the room.

While Nino headed straight for the vending machine, the three of them went around the room and examined the paintings. Marinette was more interested in finding out about the artists themselves, since most of them typically had a fascinating (but usually tragic) life story.

"I remember the last time I was here," Adrien said softly while Alya was out of earshot. "This is where the police locked me up for allegedly stealing the Mona Lisa."

Marinette laughed at the memory. "I remember that! You were running from the police. And then the whole Copycat ordeal happened."

"He was a bad Copycat," Adrien said."I mean, let's face it. If I wanted to steal a painting I'd do a much better job of it. He didn't have the right _cat_ -itude, if you know what I mean," he winked. Marinette just groaned. After finding out each other's identities, it seemed that Marinette was trapped in pun hell forever.

They were interrupted by screams coming from the adjacent exhibit. Alya turned around abruptly, instinctively pulling out her phone from her pocket. "What's going on?"

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a knowing look, having a gut feeling that another Akuma attack was taking place.

"Alya, me and Adrien are both going to stay out of the way of whatever is going on, so we might lose you in all the chaos—" Marinette started, but it was too late. Alya wasn't even really listening. She was already heading straight into the other exhibit to see (and most likely record) what was going on. Nino followed after her, shouting at her to stay away from whatever was causing the ruckus.

Marinette and Adrien saw a small hallway with bathrooms on either side, one for women and the other for men. Plagg and Tikki flew out from Adrien's bag, seemingly ready for whatever it was they were about to face.

Marinette and Tikki went into the women's bathroom, and Marinette checked to make sure it was empty.

"Tikki, spots on!"

 

* * *

 

Chat Noir and Ladybug arrived at the exhibit where most of the commotion was taking place. Chat realized that they were in the sculptures exhibit, where priceless ancient Greek sculptures, beautiful vases, and other similar works of art were put on display.

In the middle, however, stood a tall, muscular man wearing a beret and art apron. His face and exposed hands looked like they were made of stone. It was as if one of the sculptures had come to life, but was wearing normal clothes and was very angry.

"They can reject me all they want! They can tell me that I'm not a true artist or that I lack talent...but this! This is all trash!" he said angrily, motioning around him to the art on display.

"I am the only _true_ sculptor!" he declared. The Sculptor had a sculpting tool in his hand, which he pointed at one of the visitors. A beam of light exuded from the tool, turning the woman into marble.

"Looks like they shouldn't have taken your work for _granite_!" Chat shouted as he dodged one of the beams of light.

"How many times have I told you that battles are the most inappropriate times for puns?" Ladybug shouted, avoiding another beam.

"Sorry, Ladybug. It's not my fault I'm a _rock_ star in times of crisis. You gotta admit, my puns are _pure gold_."

The Sculptor began turning everyone around him into stone. Adrien looked around for Nino and Alya, worrying for their safety. He had seen them come here just moments before. He spotted the two huddled together, hiding behind a statue. Alya was recording everything.

It wasn't a very hard fought battle, Chat figured. He and Ladybug had faced much worse. Ladybug had gotten close enough to the Sculptor to take his tool and break it, releasing and then purifying the butterfly inside. She hadn't even needed to use her lucky charm. Chat, on the other hand, had had to use his Cataclysm on the floor in order to knock the Sculptor off balance as he was about to approach a group of terrified girls to turn them into stone.

"Sorry that your visit had to take such a _rocky_ turn," Chat apologized loudly after the girls quickly left the sculptures exhibit. God, he hoped Ladybug had heard _that_ one.

Ladybug had just used her Miraculous Ladybug to set everything back to normal. The art was no longer damaged, the people who had turned to stone were back in their own normal flesh, and the Sculptor appeared to be a normal guy again.

"Pound it!" they both said, celebrating their victory as usual. Chat and Ladybug approached the man, who looked very confused.

"I was just at art school...how did I get here?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it," Ladybug assured him.

After a few moments of talking, Chat found out that this guy had just been rejected by numerous art galleries. None of them thought he was talented enough to display his sculptures.

Ladybug, being the wonderful, caring, and amazing human being that she was, gave him a motivational speech about how he should never give up on his art and that failure was just one of the first steps to success. Her words of encouragement had touched the man so deeply, he began to cry.

"Thank you, Ladybug," he said, tears glistening from his eyes.

"Now, promise me you won't give up," she said kindly.

"I won't," he promised.

Chat's ring started beeping, notifying him that he had less than a minute until he transformed back. Ladybug still had more time since she hadn't used her lucky charm.

"Ladybug, I gotta dash. Are you going to come with me?" Chat asked.

"Coming," she said, looking around the room and double-checking to make sure everyone was safe.

Chat ran off back to the hallway with the bathrooms, went into the men's bathroom, and transformed back to Adrien. Plagg complained about how boring the battle had been, but then flew back into Adrien's bag because that's where he kept the cheese. Adrien casually left the bathroom, finding Ladybug near the vending machines. They were both in the same room they had been in before the Akuma attack happened, but it was empty.

"Hey, you were incredible out there," Adrien said. "That sculptor guy needed emotional support and you were there for him even after the battle was over."

"Thanks, but it was nothing," Ladybug said, blushing slightly.

"No, really," Adrien said, pulling her closer. He needed to show her that he truly meant what he was saying. "You're so kind to everyone. It's one of the many reasons that I think you're amazing."

"Mmm, how amazing, though?" Ladybug asked, inching closer to her boyfriend.

"Too amazing for words." Adrien responded, gazing into her eyes with compassion. At this point they could feel each other's breaths. Ladybug finally initiated the kiss, wrapping her arms around his waist. Adrien responded enthusiastically, pulling her body closer and deepening it the kiss. There was something about her in Ladybug form that sparked a different feeling, a different level of attraction. Perhaps it was because Ladybug was the one who caught his attention first, not that he loved Marinette any less. (How could he? They were the same person.) But _damn_ , those spots...

But as fate would have it, they were interrupted. Again. It seemed that their make-out sessions were often horribly timed, somehow always at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

" _Bro._ "

Adrien and Ladybug quickly pulled apart, finding a very shocked-looking Nino in their wake. He just stood there, staring from Adrien to Ladybug, mouth agape. He didn't look mad like Alya had the other day. Instead he was just straight-up stunned and horrified.

To make matters worse, Alya showed up. She must have followed Nino into the room, and hadn't even looked up from her phone yet. She was probably still updating her blog with her newest video of Chat Noir and Ladybug fighting the Sculptor.

Alya finally put her phone away, just then noticing the three people in the room who were in a very uncomfortable situation.

"What's going on here?" Alya asked, noticing the very close proximity between Ladybug and Adrien. Nino just looked at his girlfriend, his shock wearing off and instead replaced with a bitter expression.

"You don't want to know," he answered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Don't forget to leave comments and kudos! :)
> 
> -Y


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien couldn't believe this was happening again. Literally the same thing had happened two days ago, except this time, the situation was flipped. Adrien had been caught kissing Ladybug, while Marinette had been caught kissing Chat Noir. Instead of Alya finding out, this time it was Nino.

He wanted to scream at the irony of it all.

"Um...I guess I'll be going now," Ladybug finally said. She gave Adrien an apologetic look, and he simply watched her run away from the exhibit room, probably looking for a place to transform unnoticed. Adrien felt abandoned and trapped, and waited for his impending doom.

"What just happened here? Nino, explain," Alya demanded, looking back and forth between the two boys.

"I…" Nino began, not knowing whether he should be the one to tell Alya.

"It's okay, you can tell her," Adrien said defeatedly. Alya was sure to figure out sooner or later. He might as well let her get it out of her system now.

"Adrien...was making out with Ladybug," Nino said, seemingly astonished at his own words.

"WHAT?" Alya said, turning around to face Adrien.

 _I'm dead. I'm going to die..._ Adrien thought helplessly.

"What the _fuck_ , Adrien? Is this some kind of sick revenge on Marinette for kissing Chat Noir?"

If Adrien hadn't been controlling himself, he might have squeaked in terror. Alya continued her lecture, ignoring Nino's questions of "Marinette kissed Chat Noir?" and "What's going on?"

"This is really, _really_ low. Mari apologized and explained everything, then you act all cool and calm and then you do _this_?" Alya asked him, but while practically shouting. A few of Adrien's classmates began entering the room, watching the scene unfold.

"Alya, please keep your voice down," Adrien pleaded, worried that his classmates would hear. _Especially_ Chloe...she wouldn't let him or Marinette ever hear the end of it.

"No, I will NOT keep my voice down!" Alya responded. "You did this to hurt Marinette for what she did, even though she apologized and you made her think that you were fine with everything! Come _on_ , Adrien! I expected so much better from you and then you let me and Marinette down like this! I can't believe I felt sorry for you yesterday!"

"Alya please, it's nothing like that I swear—" Adrien started, but she cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it." Alya said coldly. "Come on, Nino." With that, Alya and Nino left Adrien standing there alone. Nino looked back at Adrien, a mix of shock and disappointment evident on his face.

Adrien felt awful.

Adrien saw that five classmates had formed a group at the other end of the room. He realized with a sinking feeling that they had probably witnessed at least some of what had just happened, and were probably able to piece together that he and Marinette were having relationship problems. Allegedly. As if to answer his fears, he heard Chloe cackling with glee.

"Oh my god, this amazing! Didn't I tell you, everyone? I knew Adrien and Marinette would never really be a thing! Marinette was such a lousy girlfriend that Adrien had no choice to cheat on her!" Chloe looked as if she was having the best day of her life.

Adrien walked up towards the small group of his classmates, facing Chloe first and firmly countering her claims. "First of all, I did _not_ cheat on Marinette. We're both doing perfectly fine. Second of all," he said, turning to face the rest of them, "Don't make assumptions based on whatever little piece of drama you just witnessed here. None of you know the whole story. And frankly, it is none of your business what is happening between me and Marinette."

"So there _is_ something happening between you and Marinette?" Alix said slyly, catching on to Adrien's choice of words.

"No, there's not! What I mean is that other people _think_ there's something bad going on when there's not," Adrien explained. "You know what, forget it. There's no point trying to explain anything to anyone."

Adrien didn't give them a second glance as he left the exhibit room. He needed to find Marinette. He would have enjoyed the beautiful works of arts on display as he walked past, but right now, he couldn't. Not when his two best friends thought he was an awful person.

"Adrien!" Marinette said, finding him in the Picasso exhibit area.

"Marinette, I am so happy to see you," he said in relief, hugging her. "It was _awful_."

"I'm sure it was, kitty. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there to protect you from angry Alya," Marinette said, hugging him back.

"What are we going to do?" Adrien asked her. "This has gotten out of hand."

"I know," Marinette sighed. "I'll figure something out, don't worry."

 

* * *

 

The field trip to the Louvre had been a disappointment, to say the least. Marinette hadn't seen Nino or Alya for the rest of the field trip, but had gotten a glimpse of the two before getting on the bus. _They must think Adrien and I are having some serious issues_ , Marinette thought.

The Akuma attack and friend drama aside, Marinette had not enjoyed the field trip itself. She had been catcalled by one of the tourists at the museum, (Adrien practically hissed at the man, scaring him away,) spilled soda onto her shirt, and forgot to select a painting for her assignment. She figured that Google could help her out with that, but it still made it more of a hassle than it already was. She was in no mood to deal with assignments today.

Their class arrived back at school at the same time that the final bell rang. Adrien still had fencing after school, leaving Marinette to walk home alone.

She barely noticed the ten-minute walk go by, and was glad to be home. The familiar, welcoming smell of freshly-baked bread, cookies, and cake put her at ease after this wretched day.

"Mari, how was your field trip?" her mother asked, happy to see her home. Marinette merely groaned in response.

"Oh, that doesn't sound very good," Sabine said with concern. "You should rest or eat something."

Marinette got up tiredly, grabbing a handful of cookies for Tikki and heading upstairs to her room. Tikki flew out of her pocket as she closed the door behind her.

"It'll all get better, Marinette. Don't worry." Tikki chirped reassuringly. "Things have a way of working themselves out."

Marinette groaned again, not really having adequate responses to anything after today. She just wanted to sleep and have all her problems disappear when she woke up.

 

* * *

 

After Adrien got home, one of the first things he did was check the Ladyblog. Adrien had realized long ago that this blog was almost a window to Alya's soul if you knew her well enough. The newest post was still from this morning, showing a video of Chat Noir and Ladybug's battle against the Sculptor. Apart from that, there were no other posts bashing on Ladybug or portraying her as a horrible person.

Adrien felt a twinge of annoyance. Not that he _wanted_ Alya to have posted something horrible about Ladybug, he just thought it was unfair that she was so much more biased against Chat despite the _exact same_ circumstances for Ladybug.

Adrien sighed, leaning back against his chair in front of the computer. _What a mess_ , was all he could think. He held his phone in his hand, debating on whether or not he should text Nino. Before all of this, he and Nino had planned to hang out after school tomorrow. They might have gone to the movies or checked out that new hipster restaurant down the street from Nino's house.

The hipster restaurant was reportedly ridiculous—rumor had it that food was served on wooden flat boards and the chairs were actually barber's chairs pulled from the junkyard. Adrien had been looking forward to making fun of the place and experience the surreal reality of hipster culture with Nino. Unfortunately, due to current events the idea seemed unlikely.

He checked the thread titled Marinette (which was followed by a ladybug emoji and hearts) and was dismayed to see that she still hadn't responded to his text. Knowing her, Adrien assumed that she had probably crashed into bed the moment she got home and was probably asleep.

"Hard having friends when you're a superhero," Plagg commented unhelpfully as he munched on his camembert. He was perched atop Adrien's computer table, watching him worry over his messages and Alya's blog.

"I noticed," Adrien said, his voice slightly bitter. He paused, then spoke again. "Plagg, why can't I just tell them? They're my friends, I should let them know my secret. I feel like I'm lying to them every time they even _mention_ Chat Noir and I just have to play along."

Plagg just laughed as if Adrien had told him the funniest joke he'd ever heard. "Are you talking about the girl who runs a blog dedicated to you and Ladybug? Fat chance! And your other friend, Nano—"

" _Nino,_ " Adrien corrected.

"Whatever—he'll never be able to keep such a huge secret inside! Telling him is the same thing as telling her. Just keep your two lives separate, it's easier that way."

Adrien crossed his arms and frowned at the despicable ancient cat fairy, but he had to admit, Plagg had a point. It was too risky. He and Marinette had been fine the way they were. Adrien hoped that all this drama would just naturally subside.

 

* * *

 

Alya was Ladynoir trash. No, scratch that, she was the Ladynoir _trash queen_. In fact, _she_ was the one who coined the term in the first place. _She_ was the one who fueled the Ladybug and Chat Noir fans on her blog, providing them with a place to discuss their theories regarding their two favorite superheroes. Paris adored the two, and Alya helped keep that adoration alive.

Right now, however, she was conflicted. She had witnessed first-hand, the two superheroes that she admired and loved, kissing her two best best friends. Hadn't Ladybug and Chat Noir admitted that their relationship was official just two months ago? Hadn't Marinette and Adrien done the same? Then why, _why in the hell_ , were these four people getting tangled up in each other?

Alya firstly felt betrayed by Marinette, who apparently had been getting far too cozy with Chat Noir for what seemed like a long time. Alya had chosen to blame it on Chat, mainly because boys were garbage and although this was a respected hero she was talking about, she couldn't just assume that he was somehow different from all other boys. It wasn't hard to perceive Chat Noir as an arrogant prick who was jealous about the media's slight preference of Ladybug over him.

But Ladybug...and _Adrien_? This one had left Alya scratching her head. Maybe Ladybug's civilian self knew about Adrien from his modeling. Maybe she didn't know that he was already taken. Adrien, on the other hand, should have known better than to respond to her advances.

What was wrong with her two best friends? What was wrong with the two superheroes that she looked up to? Why couldn't they just stay faithful to each other?

Alya knew, at the same time, that she had no business judging the relationship of two superheroes. Alya didn't know who they were, she didn't know what kind of lifestyles those two lived. For all she knew, they could've been in some sort of weird, polygamous or open relationship.

But Adrien and Marinette, that was a completely different story. Alya had never seen a couple that was so in love. Alya hated shaming them both for their actions, but someone had to snap some sense into them. If they had been any other couple, she would have accepted the end of their relationship as something that just wasn't meant to be.

It wasn't just the fact that she spent so long trying to get Adrien to notice Marinette, (there was a specific day in which Adrien suddenly noticed Marinette as if she was his whole world, and Alya couldn't figure out what had changed so drastically), it was the fact that they made each other _so damn happy_.

Alya simply couldn't fathom what drove those two to cheat on each other like that. Granted, everyone had celebrity crushes, but they had both stepped too far. Hell, how did Marinette and Adrien even _know_ Chat Noir and Ladybug on personal terms? Why hadn't Marinette told Alya about Chat Noir's visits? Alya couldn't help but think his showing up at a random civilian's home was kind of creepy.

Alya was getting a headache, feeling as if she was overthinking everything too much. She couldn't help it. She cared too deeply about other people, more so than she ever let on. Alya felt like a hypocrite for judging her friends' relationship when she constantly felt like she wasn't good enough for Nino. Alya didn't know how to be romantic and neither did Nino. She was sure that unless she told someone, they would assume that her and Nino were just best friends. In a way, she kind of envied Adrien and Marinette for being the way that they were in that regard.

Not that she wasn't _happy_ with Nino. She liked him a lot, more than she would ever show. Alya felt like she had an obligation to be more...girlfriend-y?—no, that wasn't an adjective—than she was capable of being.

Alya sighed, picking up her cell phone and wondering what would happen to the four of them. They were her squad, and the squad was in trouble. Deep, _deep_ , trouble. How could they ever hang out together as a group if Marinette and Adrien were seemingly on such bitter terms? Alya was still shocked at how utterly fake Adrien had acted all of yesterday, pretending like Marinette cheating on him had been no big deal at all, and then proceeding to purposefully cheat back on her just to hurt her emotionally. Alya was no idiot. She didn't need their explanations or 'details' to put two and two together.

What she _did_ know was that she couldn't just sit here and let her friends act like this. She needed to figure out what had caused this rift between them so she could help them. The truth was...Alya just wanted things to go back to normal.

Alya had a plan. With her phone in her hand, she texted Nino, scrolling past all the memes that clogged up their texting thread.

_Alya: we need to do something._

_Nino: (a minute later): what do you mean?_

_Alya: Marinette and Adrien can't do this to each other. We need to help them._

_Nino: how?_

_Alya: Are you still spending the afternoon with Adrien tomorrow?_

_Nino: I wasn't really planning on it after what happened today...Adrien needs to sort out his issues first…_

_Alya: Exactly. That's why I'm starting an intervention. You will bring Adrien to wherever you were planning to hang out, and I'll bring Mari. Neither of them will know that the other one is going to be there._

_Nino: Are you sure about this? We might just make things worse._

_Alya: We'll have to be careful, but I think we can do it._

_Nino: Ok. 4:00 at Waistcoat & Dunes. The intervention is on!_

_Alya: Wait, isn't that the new hipster restaurant?_

Nino: ;)

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder that you should totally follow me on tumblr under the same username and I will follow you back! Please leave kudos and comments, each one means a lot to me! :)
> 
> -Y


	4. Chapter 4

Before Marinette and Alya came into the picture, nobody knew Adrien better than Nino did. He knew before anyone else that Adrien was actually the biggest fucking nerd to ever grace the planet. That boy had been making Dragon Ball-Z references about a month into their friendship. He had began subtly dropping awful but simultaneously _genius_ puns into every conversation they had.

Nino also knew that Adrien was _weird_. Not just in the sheltered, home-schooled rich boy with daddy issues kind of weird—he meant _fucking weird_. It was kind of shocking how much Adrien managed to hide with his polite, classy, and charming outward demeanor. Of course he knew how to hide his inner freakiness—he was raised how to maneuver through high society's complex mind games, and for this reason Nino cut him some slack. But when the boy began expressing a genuine interest in theoretical physics and insane, far-fetched celebrity conspiracy theories, that's when Nino started drawing the line. Heck, Nino had once witnessed him crying over a Beethoven piece on Youtube, saying through tears how beautiful it was and how he wished he could play the piano at that level so he could impress Ladybug.

And that brought Nino to another concern—Ladybug. Nino knew that Adrien had a secret stash of Ladybug merch in his room. The poor kid was _in love_ with her. Nino had once told Adrien that he didn't even _know_ the superheroine and that he shouldn't set his hopes so high. Adrien had actually looked offended and somewhat upset for the rest of the day.

Of course, that was _before_ he started dating Marinette.

Nino didn't know what was going on with him. Adrien was a nice guy, he really was. He was a great friend and an even better boyfriend. How could he have cheated on Marinette—with _Ladybug_ , nonetheless? Since when was his best friend secretly getting involved with Paris' most beloved superhero? Nino knew that Adrien had been obsessed with her, but he had been sure that his infatuation had lessened, if not ended altogether, after he fell for Marinette.

With a sigh, Nino took off headphones and set them onto his neck like he usually did before class started. He felt a tap on his shoulder, turning around to see Alya looking at him apprehensively.

"Stick to the plan. Don't let Adrien think you're mad at him," Alya reminded him.

"Alright," Nino answered, turning around to face the front of the room again. The seat next to him was still empty, and so was the one next to Alya. Marinette and Adrien were the only two people who hadn't made it to class yet.

Nino wondered where they were, while trying to ignore the nagging feeling of being slightly pissed off at Adrien. He would try to keep his moodiness at a minimum, but that didn't erase the fact that Adrien had let him down. Nino had only recently learned that Marinette had cheated him on his first, but he would have expected Adrien to handle it better than he did yesterday.

Whatever was going on between those two, Nino wanted it to stop. Those two really needed to sort out their issues and that's why Nino had agreed to Alya's plan.

The door to the classroom opened abruptly, and in came Adrien and Marinette. Their teacher eyed the two with a frown on her face, since they had cut it very close with only a minute left until class started. Adrien sat down in his seat, hesitantly giving Nino a slight wave and an unsure smile, looking visibly nervous. _Good, at least he knows he fucked up_ , Nino thought. At least Adrien was showing some humility.

"Hey," Nino said simply. "You still wanna hang out after school?" he asked, noticing Adrien brighten up at the mention.

"What—yeah, of course! I wasn't sure if you still wanted to," Adrien said nervously.

Nino shrugged. "We'll head over to the restaurant after school."

The bell rang, and just a moment after that he heard something fall behind him. Nino turned around and saw that Marinette had dropped her pencil case, and all of her stuff had fallen out, most of it being her colored pencils that she kept for her in-between class designs.

"Oh no," she muttered to herself, crouching down beneath her desk and hastily grabbing her things. Adrien sprung into action, turned around, and helped her pick up her pencils. He gathered them up into a bunch and then handed them to her when they got up, but not without a very flirtatious wink as he did.

Marinette rolled her eyes at him but then giggled, and once Adrien turned around to face the front again, Nino saw a goofy grin on his friend's face. The kind of grin that only a lovestruck idiot could have.

Now Nino was confused. They were acting as if _nothing_ had happened at all. Here Nino and Alya were, concerned about their two friends' sanity and their relationship, all while Adrien and Marinette seemed fine. A little bit _too_ fine, if you asked him.

A bit later into class, Nino noticed Adrien zoning out, and saw that he had drawn a heart on the edge of his paper. Inside the heart he had written A + M.

 _What the fuck_ , Nino thought, wondering what was even going on. But he was sure of one thing: Adrien and Marinette were hiding something. There was no way in hell that two people could cheat on each other and still act like nothing had happened at all.

Nino concluded that there was more to all of this than Alya believed, and he was determined to figure it out.

 

* * *

 

As an eleventh year student at Collège Françoise Dupont, Marinette was allowed to leave school grounds for lunch on Fridays. There were many cafes around the area and places where she could buy a sandwich or pizza, all of them being a short walk away. Adrien, however, insisted that they go to Marinette's parents' bakery instead, which was also very close to the school. She didn't mind going home for lunch at all, mainly because this was a perfect opportunity to force Adrien to eat something other than a sad-looking salad, and another bonus was that it wouldn't cost a single Euro.

During the five-minute walk, the two laughed and talked, enjoying the pleasant spring weather as well as each other's company.

"Nino still wants to hang out with me after school," Adrien told her, looking quite happy at the fact.

"That's great," Marinette told him reassuringly.

"Yeah...I'm surprised he didn't just come up with a fake excuse to avoid me after what happened yesterday. I thought he was going to be really mad at me. I mean, he still seems kind of moody around me...but why would he still want to hang out if he's mad?"

Marinette shrugged. "Maybe he's over it already."

"I hope so," Adrien said. "I'm sure things will be back to normal between the four of us soon. Let's just make sure that we never kiss when only one of us is transformed ever again. Now we know it always leads to a _cat-_ astrophe."

"Believe me, I've learned my lesson," Marinette groaned. If only it hadn't taken two unfortunate blunders for them to realize what a bad idea it was.

They finally arrived in front of the bakery, letting go of each other's hand as Marinette opened the door and entered, the door chimes ringing as they did. Tom Dupain looked delighted as they walked in through the door, waving at the two while he served the long line of customers. Lunch and breakfast time tended to be the busiest times of the day for the bakery.

Marinette led Adrien to the back and into the kitchen, where all the freshly baked goods that had been rejected remained. Whenever she wanted a sweet snack, she always went to this part of the kitchen because none of these items were good enough to be put on display. Here there were macaroons that were a little bit too broken, cookies that weren't round enough (usually the ones she saved for Tikki,) bread that was just a little too soft, or cupcakes that had suffered frosting errors. But when it came to taste, it was all perfectly fine.

Adrien's stomach grumbled loudly at the sight of all the food. "Help yourself!" Marinette laughed. _And if you don't I'll force it down your throat, you skinny alleycat._

Sabine Cheng entered the bakery kitchen, looking surprised to see them here. "Marinette, Adrien! What a pleasant surprise."

"Hi mama," Marinette smiled, shuffling through the kitchen for some cheese to put on her bread. (And deciding to save some for Plagg. Marinette had finally gotten on his good side.)

Adrien simply waved, his mouth too full to talk. Sabine looked glad that her "future son-in-law" was actually eating, Marinette having told her how strict and somewhat cruel Adrien's diet was.

"Adrien, dear, you can't just eat sweets! I have some chicken pot pie that I was saving for dinner, let me go get some for you," Sabine said, looking at Adrien's skinny frame and frowning with concern.

Before he could protest, she had already left the kitchen. Marinette giggled at the scene, knowing that her mother loved doting over Adrien and that he was getting worked up over no reason.

"She really doesn't have to—" Adrien began, but Marinette stopped him.

"Believe me, she _wants_ to."

"Your parents are so amazing," Adrien sighed, a sad glint in his eyes as he took another bite of his croissant.

Marinette suddenly realized why Adrien wanted to come here instead of all the other places they could have gone to for lunch. He actually liked her parents. A lot. A slight wave of sadness engulfed her heart when she realized that her parents were the closest thing to parental figures that Adrien had. His mother had disappeared and was presumably dead and his father was awful. Marinette could see why Adrien enjoyed helping out her parents and spending time with them whenever he could. Because Sabine and Tom went out of their way to make him feel loved and accepted, especially since Marinette had told them about Adrien's home life.

She remembered when Adrien had spent last Christmas with her family after his father had canceled his plans with Adrien last minute, leaving for London instead for a business deal. Adrien had been distraught, having looked forward to spending time with him. Marinette and her parents had of course invited him to spend Christmas with them, and he had hesitantly agreed, feeling guilty for intruding on their family celebration. That was not the case at all, because Sabine and Tom had taken this as an excuse to go all out in their Christmas festivities. Adrien had told her that it was the best Christmas he had ever had.

Marinette was glad that she and her family could at least be there for him. Otherwise, she realized, he was basically alone.

Marinette's mother returned as promised, with plenty of healthy and protein-packed food for the two to share. She had arranged a tray of cheese and crackers and chicken pot pie for Adrien.

"Adrien, if your dietician ever gives you a hard time, let me know. I mean it. They will have to answer to me and Tom," Sabine told him firmly. Marinette knew that depriving someone of food was a serious crime in the eyes of her parents, hence why their career was based on food.

"I will, Mrs. Cheng," Adrien said, looking extremely grateful.

Once Marinette's mom had left, the two enjoyed a relaxed, pleasant lunch together. Tikki and Plagg couldn't have been happier, especially with the abundance of cheese and cookies.

 

* * *

 

When Adrien and Marinette approached the school, they saw Alya and Nino returning as well, smiling and laughing as they shared a bag of popcorn. Alya saw Marinette and waved at her, motioning for her to join her.

"Sorry boys, I need to talk to Mari in private," Alya said, putting an arm around her best friend and steering herself and Marinette away from Adrien and Nino.

"Got any plans for this afternoon?" Alya inquired as soon as they were a short distance away.

"No, I guess not," Marinette said, noticing that her friend seemed more open and talkative than she had been for the past week. It was almost as if she was returning to her usual self, Marinette thought. She was glad that her friendships weren't being put at stake as a result of her superhero life clashing with her civilian life, something that she had been fearing for days.

"Great! Nino told me about this really freaky hipster restaurant that's just down the road from his house. I really want to go check it out, to see if it's weird and interesting enough for me to post about it on my blog. You need to come with me," Alya said, in a tone that suggested that Marinette didn't really have a choice.

"Yeah, sure! Sounds great," Marinette said, relieved that Alya had finally put aside her hard feelings over all that had happened over the past week.

"We'll go right after school," Alya declared. Marinette was looking forward to spending some normal, drama-free time with Alya, something that she had unfortunately not experienced for a while.

 

* * *

 

Alya and Marinette took the bus right after school, then walked for the remainder of the way to the restaurant. On the way there they laughed and talked, took a few selfies and took random personality quizzes on their phones. According to a Disney Princess quiz, Marinette was most like Mulan while Alya got Megara.

"Mulan? Wow, Mari. I can't even imagine you fighting in an actual battle, you would probably trip and die in the face of danger," Alya said, laughing and taking a screenshot of her own result.

Marinette laughed nervously. "You're totally right. Me, fighting? That would be a disaster!"

Alya offhandedly noticed Marinette cough slightly after she said this. She knew that cough well. It was the nervous response that Marinette made every time she was lying. But what could she be lying about right now? Alya dismissed this observation as they rounded the corner and finally approached the restaurant.

A rustic-looking sign that read _Waistcoat & Dunes_ was displayed over the doors, and the two girls entered. Alya firstly noted that the name of the restaurant made absolutely no sense. Then she noticed the weird but simultaneously _nice_ smell of age-old wood coming from inside. The walls were exposed brick, lined with random road signs that were hung up as if it was art. There was 70's French music playing in the background, but Alya couldn't tell where the speakers were since she had been momentarily blinded by the random spotlight placed in a corner.

Looking past the light, Alya saw that there were only a handful of people here, all of them being hipster couples with an interesting choice of clothing.

"Is that Adrien and Nino?" Marinette suddenly remarked, pointing to the other end of the restaurant.

"Why, what a coincidence!" Alya feigned, pretending to squint her eyes as she noticed the two boys. She grabbed Marinette's hand and led her towards them. Adrien looked surprised to see Marinette and Alya approaching.

Before he could ask why they were here, Alya had already shoved Marinette to the seat next to the wall, which was directly across from Adrien. Nino and Alya sat on the outer end of the bench seat, practically locking the two into their seats.

"Mari? Alya? How are you both—" Adrien began, but Alya cut him off.

"This is an intervention," she said, looking seriously at Adrien. "Nino and I made plans with both of you to make sure that we would all be here this afternoon so that we could all have a serious talk."

"An intervention? For what?" Marinette asked, still visibly confused.

"For your _issues_ , of course!" Nino said exasperatedly, looking between Adrien and Marinette. "Why are you both cheating on each other?"

Adrien and Marinette were both at a loss for words. They exchanged a nervous look, but neither of them had an answer.

"Look, I'm worried for both of you. I can tell that you two are going through a rough patch and I want to help. All feelings aside, I just want you two to communicate," Alya said calmly.

"There's nothing to communicate!" Marinette said, turning red.

Adrien finally spoke up. "Alya, you've got everything all wrong. Mari and I...we placed a bet. She's a huge Chat Noir fan, she's got a Chat hoodie and _everything,_ she buys all of his merch, including a t-shirt that says I heart Chat…" he explained, but Mari glared at him as he said this and he changed his course of words. "I-I mean anyway, she's a huge fan. So somehow we both made bets on who could kiss their favorite superhero first."

"Yeah!" Marinette piped in. "And I won the bet, but I told Adrien he should go through with the kiss if he ever got the chance. Especially considering that he's completely _obsessed_ with Ladybug, can't get enough of her…" she said, eyeing him with a raised eyebrow and a smug smile on her face.

It all seemed believable, Alya concluded. So why was her bullshit sensor going off like crazy?

Nino looked relieved. "All this drama over a bet? Bro, you should have just told me!"

"I didn't know how to explain it, and you just seemed so lowkey pissed at me that I didn't want to bring it up," Adrien said, frowning.

A TV was mounted on the wall across from them, and the news channel was on. In a breaking news report, the reporter was talking about an Akuma attack happening not too far away from here, a colorful villain visible on the screen. There was no sign of Paris' superheroes already being at the scene of the event.

Alya saw Adrien and Marinette exchange a panicked glance.

"Alya, I just remembered something! Adrien has to go help me...uh, buy some new fabric!" Marinette said.

"What? You're leaving already? We haven't even ordered anything. We literally _just_ got here—" Alya said, feeling very suspicious over how frantic they had suddenly become.

"There's no time," Adrien interrupted. "The store closes in an hour and Marinette needs to get her design done by tonight."

Alya and Nino hesitantly stood up, allowing the two to leave their seats. They both bid their frantic goodbyes, rushing out of the restaurant with not so much as another glance. Alya and Nino sat back down, still processing the fact that their friends had just abandoned them with what could possibly have been the dumbest, most pathetic excuse ever created.

" _Fabric?_ " Nino said incredulously. "They were flipping out over _fabric?_ "

Alya stared at the table, her arms folded together as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. Something at the back of her mind was nagging at her to pay attention to the details, especially to all of the weird things she had noticed about Marinette and Adrien over the past few months.

No, not just the past few months...there had always been something weird about Marinette, ever since the day she had met her. But it was all getting harder and harder to ignore in recent events. This wasn't the first time Marinette had mysteriously ditched her.

"Nino," Alya said slowly. "Does Adrien ever just...disappear? Like, does he ever ditch you without warning?"

"Yeah. All the time," Nino said, looking at Alya curiously. "Why?"

 _Good question_ , Alya thought. There had to be a connection. She was missing something...an important detail...but what? Why did she constantly feel like Marinette was always up to something, always hiding something from her? Why and how was she and Adrien getting caught up with Paris' favorite duo of superheroes?

Alya turned her attention back to the TV, observing the live footage of Chat Noir and Ladybug arriving at the scene. They approached the villain from different angles, their weapons ready and a fierce, determined look on each of their faces. The camera zoomed into Ladybug's face, and that's when something inside of Alya finally snapped.

In that moment, Alya felt like someone had just thrown a brick at her face. "OH MY _GOD_!" she exclaimed loudly, suddenly standing up from her seat. Nino and everyone else in the restaurant was staring at her, but she didn't care.

It was like she had been blind for years and only know was she seeing the world for the first time. At first she was in denial of the insane, ridiculous idea that her mind had come up with. But then...then she _knew._ The final piece of the puzzle had been set into place.

Her heart was racing, her hands were trembling. Maybe she was going insane. There was no way...but there _was._

"Alya, what's wrong?" Nino asked, looking very concerned.

Alya grasped his hand, a petrified expression on her face. "Let's get out of here." They left the restaurant, ignoring all the stares from the other people, probably wondering what had caused Alya to snap like that.

Alya blinked in the sunlight as she stepped outside, the world feeling more disoriented than ever before. She steadied herself and grasped Nino's shoulders, the two of them standing in the middle of the sidewalk underneath the shade of the trees overhead.

"Nino…" Alya began, wondering how she could explain something so pivotal, so insane to her oblivious boyfriend. She didn't have concrete proof. Just a gut feeling and an Earth-shattering epiphany. But Alya had never been so sure about anything in her life.

"Marinette and Adrien...are actually Ladybug and Chat Noir."  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol okay I suck at author's notes, I don't really know what to say here. Anyway, please leave kudos and comments!! The next chapter should be up within the week. :)
> 
> -Y


	5. Chapter 5

Nino stared at Alya like she had just grown two heads. He loved her, he really did. She was one of the coolest, most confident girls he had ever met. But he also knew that she had a horrible habit of jumping to conclusions.

“Alya, don’t you remember what happened when you were dead sure that Chloe was Ladybug?” he reminded her gently. This was just another one of her crazy theories. There was absolutely _no way_ that Adrien and Marinette could be superheroes.

“I was wrong that time, but this time I’m sure of it!” Alya said, crossing her arms and glaring at Nino, seemingly upset that he didn’t agree with her.

“I wish I could believe you but I can’t,” Nino said apologetically. “I mean, there’s no proof!”

Alya grabbed his arms, gripping them firmly. They were now eye-level, making it very clear that Alya was going to make her point heard. “Nino, think! The proof has been in front of us this whole time! Can you recall Ladybug and Chat Noir _ever_ being at the same place as Marinette and Adrien at the same time?”

Nino stared back at her, knowing that Alya would never let this go until she had proof that she was wrong. Despite his obvious doubts, Alya was right about this particular point. Indeed, he couldn’t remember ever seeing Adrien and Chat Noir being at the same place at the same time. Then again, he had only met Chat Noir on a few rare occasions. “No, I can’t. But it’s just a coincidence.”

Alya facepalmed. “Fine. But don’t you think Adrien looks like Chat Noir? I can’t believe I never noticed this before! The hair color, the height, the weird obsession with puns—”

“Alya, stop,” Nino said firmly. “I can’t let you obsess over something that’s not true. I know that you really want to know Chat Noir and Ladybug’s true identities. I mean, who in Paris doesn’t want to know? But don’t drag our friends into this. They wouldn’t lie to us like that.”

“They would if they were superheroes!” Alya argued.

Nino just sighed, and he was in no mood to argue with his girlfriend. He knew for a fact that it was impossible to convince her that she was wrong. Not just about this, but about anything under the sun. She could argue for hours about how tomatoes weren’t a fruit or how aliens were real and wouldn’t give up until the other person admitted defeat. “Look, until you provide me with actual, solid proof, I just can’t take this theory of yours seriously. I’m sorry, Alya,” Nino watched nervously as Alya became angrier by the minute.

“Fine!” Alya said fiercely. “You want proof? I’ll give you proof! Just you wait!”

Nino frowned at her, realizing that their plan to patch up Marinette and Adrien’s relationship had backfired horribly. It wasn’t _their_ relationship at stake. Now it was his own. He needed to calm Alya down fast.

“Let me walk you to the bus stop. Come on,” Nino offered, trying to change the subject. He could walk home by himself from here, but Alya lived far away.

“No thanks,” she said, turning away haughtily and walking herself to the bus stop.

“Alya, please don’t get mad at me over this,” Nino pleaded, trying to catch up with her fast-paced walk.

“I’m not mad,” Alya lied. “But I am determined. Just you wait, Nino. Within up to forty-eight hours, I promise you that you’ll see how right I am. I have a plan.”

Nino doubted it, but he didn’t press the issue any further. He decided that she just needed some space and time to clear her head and realize how ridiculous she was being.

 

* * *

 

Marinette was concerned. It had been hours since she had left Alya and Nino behind at the restaurant after the Akuma attack happened, and she felt horrible. The sky was dark and the day was almost over, and Alya still had not replied to any of her texts. The first one she had sent was a heartfelt apology along with a new plan to hang out after school another day.

Her heart dropped when she saw that underneath the text she had sent Alya was the timestamp that said _Read: 8:45 PM_.

Marinette was aware that leaving Alya like that had been incredibly rude and uncalled for. There was no doubt in her mind that Alya must be upset with her. It was quite unfortunate, especially since it seemed like she was beginning to ease up about the whole “cheating” situation. She figured that Adrien’s betting explanation had done the trick, but now Alya must be mad at her for a completely different reason.

“Ugh, Tikki. This isn’t fair. Alya doesn’t deserve a friend who always ends up lying to her and ditching her without notice," Marinette complained, leaning back on her computer chair in dismay.

“That’s not true,” Tikki responded. “You’re a great friend to Alya. You try your best to be there for her. You’re super loyal and supportive and anyone would be lucky to be your friend.”

“Thanks, Tikki,” Marinette sighed, but it all felt like empty words.

 _Tap tap_. Marinette jolted up in her seat, looking towards her room’s window and saw a pair of glowing green eyes gazing back at her from the darkness of outside.

Marinette walked towards the window and opened it, allowing Chat Noir to climb into her room, his hair even messier than usual. Without another word, he plopped himself down onto her bed and laid back into the pillows, his arms crossed at his chest. He looked extremely annoyed.

“What’s wrong?” Marinette asked, climbing onto the bed and leaning against her pillows next to him.

“Everything,” he said dramatically. “ _Paw_ -sitively horrible.”

“Go on,” she urged, moving in closer to listen.

“Well, it all started when I had the absolutely _wonderful_ opportunity to have dinner with father,” Chat began bitterly. Marinette knew that this was already taking a bad turn. It always did once Gabriel Agreste was in the picture. She had once admired Gabriel for his company and his designs (even though Marinette doubted he actually designed anything himself,) but all of that respect had been replaced with dislike once she discovered how much of an awful father he was.

“Every time I have dinner with him, he takes it as an opportunity to remind me of all the awful things I get to look forward to. Apparently my dietician noticed that I gained a pound and she flipped out and told father that I’m lying on my diet log. So now he’s hired a professional trainer that I have to work with every Sunday. Which is _absolutely_ something I needed on top of Chinese lessons, fencing, piano, schoolwork, and being a superhero. Not to mention a stupid fundraiser that my dad is hosting which is actually just an excuse for pretentious rich people get together and show off how rich they are and pretend like they actually care about charity...and I have to help ‘entertain’ people, whatever that means. And, the icing on the cake, is that he signed me up for more swimsuit modeling, something that I just find really uncomfortable,” Adrien said, visibly cringing at the thought.

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Marinette truly felt bad for him. She knew Adrien had an extremely demanding life, one that she could never picture having herself. Marinette didn’t know how he managed to do it all without cracking under pressure.

“It all sounds really stressful, but I know you can manage it,” Marinette said, cuddling closer to him. “But don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t mind seeing pictures of you in a swimsuit around the city…”

Adrien laughed, and Marinette was glad that a bit of flirting had cheered him up to some extent. “My Lady, if you ever want to see me shirtless all you have to do is ask.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she giggled, but then stopped as soon as she faintly heard footsteps coming towards her room.

“Quick, hide!” Marinette said, shoving Chat off of her bed with a loud _thud._ He was now on the floor, but on the side that was away from the trap door so he was hidden by the bed. Just in case, Marinette threw a blanket on top of him.

The trap door opened, and Marinette’s mother appeared, only half of her body inside of her room.

“Marinette, are you talking to someone?” Sabine asked. “And what did you just drop on the floor?”

“Wha-nothing! That was just...my phone! I dropped my phone!” Marinette said apprehensively. “I was talking to Adrien. On the phone, of course,” she said, smiling widely while trying to hide her nerves. Now she was only half-lying. She _had_ been talking to Adrien, after all.

Sabine looked at her daughter with a frown and just sighed. “Tell Adrien you will talk to him tomorrow, right now it’s bedtime and you need to go to sleep. I don’t want to hear any excuses in the morning," she said sternly. Sabine got up from the door and switched her lamp off.

Marinette’s room was now dark, except for the city lights and the moonlight coming from her open window. She could still clearly make out the shapes in her room and the figure of her mother. Sabine bent down and kissed her daughter on the forehead, not noticing the light sweat on Marinette’s forehead as a result of her mother’s unexpected visit.

After Sabine left her room, Marinette sighed in relief and peered over onto the floor beside her bed. A disgruntled Chat Noir removed the blanket from on top of him. Marinette noticed that his eyes were even more luminously green than before in the darkness of her room.

“Thanks for shoving me off your bed,” he whispered sarcastically.

“Sorry, I panicked,” Marinette whispered back. She couldn’t even imagine how difficult it would have been to explain to her mother why she had a boy in her bed. More specifically, a boy who was one of the city’s most famous superheroes and happened to be wearing (a rather sexy) cat costume.

“That was a close one. I guess I better get going," Chat said, standing up.

“Wait,” Marinette said, feeling like he had only just gotten here. “You should stay. We can just keep each other company for a while. I would...I would like that a lot.”  
  
Marinette wasn’t sure if he would even agree. She knew it was a weird request, but she liked lying close to him. It made her feel...safe. Happy. Warm. She had fallen asleep with him before, but each time it was on accident, all of those times being before they knew each other’s identities.

She could see him smile in the darkness. He quietly climbed back into the bed, adjusting himself next to Marinette. They were lying down and facing each other, the faint moonlight gently illuminating their faces. They were so close, Marinette could feel him breathing.  
  
“Deja vu," Chat whispered.

Marinette remembered the last time they had been in her bed together like this. It was only three months ago, the last time that Chat Noir had visited her before they knew each other’s identities.

Chat initially started visiting Marinette for food, but then kept coming back after he found out that he enjoyed Marinette’s company. He had asked for relationship advice regarding Ladybug, something that Marinette had found difficult yet hilarious at the same time. (She had been honest with her advice, though.) Sometimes Chat would just stick around while she did her homework or made her designs, and she had once used his measurements as a reference for the a jacket she was making. The last time, Chat had been helping her with her physics homework, and somehow they had both ended up falling asleep together as they were studying. Marinette had awoken that morning facing away, otherwise she would have woken up to Adrien in her bed and have had a heart attack right then and there. Ironically, they had discovered each other’s identities a week later in a much more dramatic way.

Chat had not transformed back yet, mainly because the light of the transformation might might attract Marinette’s mother’s attention again. He also had to get back home soon, and he couldn’t do that as Adrien. Only Chat Noir had the ability to jump across rooftops.

“Adrien, I feel so bad about ditching Alya and Nino earlier today,” Marinette whispered.

“Me too,” he responded. “We have to make it up to them somehow on Monday.”

“That feels too late. Alya isn’t responding to any of my texts and I think she’s mad at me again. And she only just started acting normal around me again,” she said quietly.  
  
“I know, I know,” Chat sighed. “I hate lying to them.”  
  
Marinette didn’t need to respond to agree. After all the assumptions, all the lies she had told in the past few days, she couldn’t help but feel guilty every time she even _looked_ at her friends.

Minutes passed by as they conversed together in whispers, eventually letting the drowsiness take over and put them to sleep. Friday had turned into Saturday, and the morning sun continued to climb higher into the sky.

Marinette awoke sometime after dawn. As she opened her eyes, she saw the dim sunlight illuminating her room. Panicking, she checked the alarm clock next to her bed and saw that it was 7:30 in the morning.

“Adrien, wake up!” she whispered frantically, shaking him in his sleep. His cat suit was now gone, leaving nothing but a sleeping Adrien in a t-shirt and pajamas in his place. Plagg was peacefully asleep on her bedside table.

Adrien responded by groaning tiredly, turning away from her and refusing to open his eyes.

“Adrien!” Marinette said, shouting in a whisper. Her parents were probably awake by now, since they woke up at the crack of dawn to make their first batch of bread. Although they were probably downstairs in the bakery, it was not uncommon for her mother to come upstairs and wake her up early on weekends if business was booming and they needed Marinette’s help to stock things or help decorate cakes.

Although they both adored Adrien to bits, Marinette couldn’t even _imagine_ what would happen if either of her parents stumbled upon Adrien sleeping in her bed. First it would arise questions on how he got there in the first place without their knowledge, and secondly it would imply something that Marinette would rather not think about right now.

Her mother had tried on two occasions to give her _the talk_ , but Marinette had tactfully avoided it both times in order to avoid being subject to such mortification. After all, Adrien and Marinette hadn’t gone any further than kissing at this point, and for now she was perfectly fine with that.

“I’m literally going to slap you if you don’t wake up right now,” Marinette had resorted to threats, and was becoming increasingly nervous on whether or not her parents could show up any minute. And what if someone noticed that Adrien was gone at _his_ house? There was no doubt that Gabriel wouldn’t waste a minute to call the police.

Adrien groggily opened his eyes, blinked, and then sat up quickly as he finally processed where he was.

“Oh _no,_ ” Adrien said, frantically looking around and realizing that it was morning and that he had not woken up in his own room.

“It’s 7:30 in the morning. We fell asleep while talking to each other last night,” Marinette told him, watching as he got up to wake Plagg. Despite the situation, she couldn’t help but notice that his bedhead looked gorgeous. It was very messy—even messier than it was when he was when he was Chat.

Marinette thought smugly of how jealous she would have been of herself a year ago, when she would stutter and freak out at the mere sight of Adrien.

“I have a photoshoot in an hour!” Adrien said, picking up Plagg and looking very anxious. He needed to get back soon, otherwise Nathalie and his father would surely notice that he was gone.

Plagg grumbled in protest, muttering something about cheese and not opening his eyes.

“I don’t have time for this,” Adrien said, shaking the Kwami frustratedly. “I promise I’ll get you some cheese as soon as we get home.”

Plagg stretched and yawned, seemingly unconcerned. Still, he woke up and said “fine.” Adrien transformed into Chat Noir, then headed towards the trapdoor that led to the balcony above.

“It was nice spending some quality time with my Princess,” he said with a wink before climbing the ladder.

Marinette smiled, then remembered the initial purpose for his visit last night. “Anytime. If you ever need to talk, never hesitate. I’ll always be there for you.”

Chat glanced back at her, giving her one last warm smile before he left, seemingly grateful for Marinette. She gave him a small wave as he disappeared up the trap door.

Moments later, Tom Dupain appeared from below. “Marinette! Good thing you’re awake. It’s getting crazy in the bakery and I need your help."

“Coming, Papa.” Marinette said, relieved that he had not shown up even a minute earlier.

 

* * *

 

After the photoshoot, Adrien convinced Nathalie and his driver to drop him off at Nino’s house. It was a very pleasant Saturday afternoon, and he wouldn’t want to spend it any other way than with his best friend. Perhaps they could go to the park and shoot some hoops.

Apart from the prospect of a good time, another motivating factor was guilt. Adrien still felt horrible for ditching Nino like that yesterday. He realized that he had done it too many times, and his friend didn’t deserve that. Adrien had never truly had a friend before (not counting Chloe, but with her he had almost no choice,) and the thought of messing up his first true friendship was a scary thing for him.

Adrien arrived at Nino’s doorstep. His house was a moderately sized brick building located on the outskirts of downtown Paris, giving his neighborhood more of a modern, urban flair rather than the classical look of most of the other buildings in the older areas. He rang the doorbell and waited for a response.

Nino answered the door a moment later, looking surprised to see Adrien there. “Adrien? What’s up?”

“Hey, Nino. I was free this afternoon and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today? We could go to the park or something, anywhere is —” he said, rubbing the back of his neck while feeling a bit nervous. After all, Nino might still be mad at him, and Adrien thought he had every right to still be mad.

Instead, Nino just smiled. “Say no more. I’ll go get the basketball.”

After Nino went back inside to grab the ball, the two boys headed out and walked together to the park. Adrien apologized for the day before, but Nino didn’t seem to mind and insisted that it was okay. Perhaps this was why Adrien thought Nino was the perfect best friend. He was a chill dude who didn’t take much to heart.

They arrived at the basketball court, then began playing. It had started off as a relaxed session of just aiming and shooting, but it quickly ended up becoming competitive. Adrien and Nino were almost matched when it came to skill level in basketball, Adrien having a _slight_ athletic edge over Nino due to his quick reflexes.

The two boys were now sweating, and Adrien was in possession of the ball. He dribbled it carefully, maneuvering quickly as Nino extended his arm to steal from him.

“Come on weeb, is that all you got?” Nino said, still trying to steal the ball. They always ended up talking smack near the end of the game, because that’s when it became the most competitive.

“Excuse you, this weeb is _winning,_ ” Adrien smirked, avoiding another steal and pivoting on his heels. He quickly took aim and shot at the basket. The ball went through with a _swish,_  not even touching the net.

Nino groaned at his loss, then patted Adrien on the shoulder. “What a showoff. Are you even physically capable of sucking at _anything_ , bro? It’s pretty annoying.” Nino was referencing Adrien’s apparent flawlessness when it came to almost everything, whether it had to do with languages (he was quadrilingual), classical music, athletics, video games, academics, and simply being attractive, although that was an obvious given since he was a model. There was no doubt that Adrien gave off a vibe of perfectionism.

“I don’t have your dj skills,” Adrien suggested, walking over to the bench and pulling a sandwich out of his messenger bag. He hoped that Plagg hadn’t eaten nibbled on it yet, something that he tended to when he ran out of camembert.

“True," Nino chuckled, sitting down and also taking out his lunch. They ate their lunch together and talked, with bouts of laughter in between as they talked about anything that came to mind, somehow ending up on the topic of their girlfriends.

“Speaking of Alya, Marinette is freaking out because she won’t respond to her texts. Do you know if Alya is mad at Marinette?” Adrien asked.

Nino sighed. “I don’t think she’s mad. I think she’s busy scheming.”

“What?” Adrien asked, surprised at the answer. “Why would she be scheming?”  
  
Nino chuckled. “Bro, I’m about to tell you something crazy. Just promise you won’t give Alya a hard time about it, because at this point nobody can convince her otherwise.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow in confusion. “I won’t.”

“Okay, okay. Just brace yourself, because this is like, next level. Even for Alya,” Nino said, taking a sip of soda before continuing. Now Adrien was _very_ intrigued...  
  
“Alya...is somehow convinced that you and Marinette are Ladybug and Chat Noir.”  
  
“WHAT?” Adrien said, but then regretted reacting so loudly. He regained composure, but was now in full panic mode on the inside. How could Alya have guessed? Marinette had done so well with steering Alya away from their identities. In fact, she had even given Alya false information about her civilian self as Ladybug to make sure that this exact assumption would _never_ happen.

“That’s... _wow_ ,” Adrien said, forcing a laugh. “Alya makes lots of wild assumptions. This one definitely takes the cake.”  
  
“I know, right! I even told her she was being crazy when she told me. She got mad when I said I didn’t believe her,” Nino sighed. “And she has no proof at all. Now Alya is dead set on exposing you guys, it’s all so weird.”

 _This is bad. This is very bad,_ Adrien thought, who was now internally freaking out. He needed to gather more information. What evidence had Alya collected so far? When did she figure this all out?  
  
“What led her to this insane idea?” Adrien asked, leaning back onto the bench to make his body language show that he was _totally_ relaxed. If there was one thing he was an expert at, it was hiding his emotions.

“I honestly don’t know. She just kinda snapped after you guys left the restaurant yesterday, like she suddenly had an epiphany. It was while we were watching the live news feed of Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting the Akuma villain,” Nino explained. “And when she was leaving she swore that she would prove it to me soon.”

“Well, she better be prepared to be disappointed again. I’m definitely _not_ Chat Noir,” Adrien laughed, but his conscience was screaming at him for lying through his teeth.  
  
Nino was now staring at Adrien with a raised eyebrow. “You know, you kinda do look alike. I never noticed before.”

Adrien’s nerves just got worse. How long before he lost his cool in front of Nino? “Blonde hair, green eyes. Not all that uncommon," Adrien said dismissively.

Nino blinked and then laughed. “Nah, you’re definitely Ladybug.”

“Right.” Adrien said, laughing along. He was now sweating more than he had been before. He needed to leave right now and tell Marinette. She needed to be on guard in case Alya put whatever plan she had orchestrated into place.

“I’ve had a great time, Nino. I need to get back home soon for piano lessons,” Adrien said, excusing himself. He texted his driver to come pick him up, patting Nino on the back.

“Oh, that’s fine. See you on Monday dude. And don’t let Alya’s craziness get to you, she’ll realize how wrong she is soon,” Nino assured his friend.

 _But she’s not wrong_...Adrien thought, his anxiety levels rising with each second.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry for the very late update! For the last few chapters I’ve updated within one or two days and this one took more than a week. :( Also I’m considering changing this story from 6 chapters to maybe 7, depending on how the plot turns out. Because as I said before, I’m making this up as I go along...what happens next is just as much of a surprise for me as it is for you! I’ve also got a bunch of plot ideas for future stories but I’m going to try finishing this up first before I even consider actually starting another story. Anyway, I think you all know the general idea of what’s coming in the next chapter, what with Alya having figured it out and all. Another thing, please follow me on tumblr! My username is the same as it is here and I will follow you back if you have a Miraculous Ladybug blog. Please leave kudos and comments. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Monday was off to a particularly bad start for Marinette. She had woken up about thirty minutes late, leaving her to rush around her room in an attempt to get ready. She quickly put together an outfit, brushed her teeth, and splashed some water onto her face. To make matters worse, her room was a mess, so she couldn't find a matching pair of socks and had to settle for whatever two she managed to find.

Marinette ignored the sound of Tikki scolding her about time management and disorganization while she looked for her hairbrush, not having time to tie her hair into her usual ponytails. When she found it, she quickly brushed her hair just enough so that it didn't look like a complete mess, allowing her hair to remain down for the day.

Marinette grabbed her bag, Tikki flying into her usual pocket as she rushed downstairs. Knowing that she was really late, Marinette did not stop for breakfast. Sabine Cheng, although busy with her morning customers, spared a moment to give Marinette a disappointed frown as she ran past to head outside.

The sky overhead was dark and grey. Marinette heard a loud grumble of thunder, and hoped that the current drizzle wouldn't turn into a downpour as she ran to school. However, it seemed as though the weather couldn't care less that she was Lady Luck—the drizzle began to intensify with each moment.

When she arrived at the front of the school, Marinette ran up the stone steps and entered through the main door. Inside, she realized that there weren't any students in the halls, meaning without a doubt that class had already started. Panicked, Marinette walked quickly towards her homeroom class and dreaded having to walk into class while soaking wet.

She opened the door slowly, hoping that maybe, just maybe, her teacher would be looking away and she could slip in unnoticed. Marinette stepped inside, but this was not the case. Madame Durand noticed almost immediately as Marinette entered the classroom, eyeing her with a frown on her face.

Marinette nervously saw that the entire class was looking at her as she entered, her hair slicked with rain water and her clothes visibly drenched.

"Late again, I see. Your tardies are becoming a problem, Miss Cheng," Madame Durand remarked, walking briskly towards her computer and making a note of her late entrance.

"I'm really sorry Madame Durand," Marinette apologized, then began walking towards her desk, aware of all the eyes that were upon her. Chloe had a satisfied smirk on her face at Marinette's lateness and the state of her clothes. Marinette walked past Adrien's seat, glancing at his green eyes that appeared to be filled with concern.

She sat down in her seat next to Alya, who was focused on her tablet screen and hadn't even looked up to greet her friend.

Marinette had been so occupied on getting to school on time, she forgot about the warning that Adrien had sent her over text on Saturday night.

_Alya knows our secret. I don't know how she figured it out but now she wants to expose us. Be careful._

Remembering the chills she had gotten when she had read Adrien's text that night, Marinette discreetly looked over at Alya, who was taking notes on the lesson like she was supposed to. It was an unnerving experience, being afraid of her own best friend. What if she found proof? Would she tell everyone? Marinette couldn't even imagine what life would be like if everyone knew she was Ladybug. As for Adrien, he was already famous both in his costume and out of it. The media would have a field day if they found out, and he would never know peace or privacy ever again.

Needless to say, Marinette didn't think she could focus on school for the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

Alya watched as her best friend walked into the classroom, looking soaked with rain and tired. Her hair was down and slicked with water, and Alya couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity. The girl looked awful, and had no doubt rushed to school after sleeping in.

Marinette sat down beside her, looking much more apprehensive than usual. She sneezed a couple of times (probably from the cold after the rain,) to which Alya murmured a quiet "bless you" in response.

Alya side-eyed her friend discreetly, her heart thumping excitedly her chest at the thought of Marinette being Ladybug. A brief moment of doubt overcame her as she glanced at Marinette, who was currently wringing her sleeves to rid her clothes of the rain, sniffling and sneezing as she did.

Could the girl sitting right next to her, the girl who had been her best friend for almost two years, be Ladybug herself?

Just then, Marinette knocked her tablet off the table as she was readjusting her arms. It was a heavy object, so it made a considerable disturbance in the classroom as Madame Durand had paused the lesson to figure out what page they were on in their textbooks. Apart from the crashing noise of the tablet onto the floor, nobody had been making a sound, so everyone turned their heads to look at her.

Marinette was blushing furiously for causing a second disturbance within a matter of minutes. "Sorry!" she apologized.

Alya couldn't help but assess the irony of what she knew and what she was seeing. Here was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a sweet, loveable, but notoriously clumsy girl who was easily flustered. Alya thought back to the days when Marinette couldn't even form coherent sentences in Adrien's presence.

Then there was Ladybug, the seemingly flawless superheroine who was the physical embodiment of grace, poise, and courage. Her air of confidence was unmistakable.

Could they _seriously_ be the same girl? Now Alya truly realized why Nino thought she was insane.

Alya averted her attention toward the blond-haired boy sitting diagonally in front of her. Adrien was a boy raised to exceed standards. He was polite, charming, and undoubtedly talented and smart. Above all, he was a model—someone whose entire career relied on pretending to be perfect. Alya knew that he was far from perfect, but he did an excellent job of hiding it with all the skills he had acquired from living among Paris' elite.

Chat Noir was someone else entirely. He was known to play around with the "bad boy" persona, although perhaps it was just fans getting confused with his apparent cocky, flirtatious attitude. He seemed so free-spirited and audacious, nothing like the overall reserved-natured Adrien Agreste.

It was all too much for Alya to wrap her brain around. She was convinced that her suspicions were true. Alya had spent all weekend over-analyzing her two friends. Now it wasn't just her gut. Even the facts were lining up.

She thought back to all the times when Chat Noir and Ladybug had arrived within mere seconds of an Akuma attack. They might be good, but no one could be _that_ good. The only explanation was that Ladybug and Chat Noir had already been present at the scene as Adrien and Marinette. When Mylene had been Akumatized, the entire class had been trapped inside the school—Ladybug and Chat Noir had no way of getting in with all the slime that had covered all the entrances. Only Adrien and Marinette had been absent the entire time. It was the only explanation that made sense.

There were countless other instances where Adrien and Marinette had disappeared just before Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared, seemingly within moments and out of nowhere. Physical similarities aside, Alya couldn't believe she had been so blind.

…She also couldn't believe that Marinette had lied to her all this time.

Alya had to put her feelings aside if she was going to go through with her plan. She needed a confirmation. She needed to end the lies and the secrets and also prove to Nino that she had been right.

She would deal with what all this meant for her friendship later.

 

* * *

 

Adrien had been on high alert since the moment school had started. Alya was not acting out of the ordinary, but that did nothing to console his fears.

A hopeful voice at the back of his mind suggested that maybe she had dropped the issue altogether. After all, Adrien knew that he acted totally different when he was Chat Noir. Marinette was also much more confident and fearless as Ladybug. Maybe the stark differences had made Alya realize that she was being ridiculous.

But Adrien knew that he couldn't let his guard down. He needed to protect his Lady's secret, the one they shared for many reasons including the safety of the ones they cared about. If word got at that he was Chat Noir, what if Hawkmoth held his father hostage until he gave up his miraculous?

Adrien was silently dreading library study hall. Every moment with Alya made him feel exposed and vulnerable, as if she would suddenly spring whatever devious plan she had to expose them into action.

He sat at the same table with Marinette, Alya, and Nino just like he normally did. Adrien took out his history textbook and began reading, but he wasn't truly processing the words.

"Oh, Adrien! Are you reading chapter 13 too? I _love_ all the information it has about ancient Egypt. It's all so fascinating, don't you think?" Alya said, smiling towards her friend.

"Yeah, it's definitely interesting," Adrien answered hesitantly, surprised that Alya had taken such a sudden interest in history. She usually couldn't care less about this particular subject.

"You know what I find _most_ interesting about the ancient Egyptians?" Alya pressed on. "The fact that they worshipped _cats_."

It didn't take long for Adrien to realize what kind of game Alya was playing at. The not-so-subtle cat reference was undoubtedly Alya's way of messing with his mind, proving that she knew his secret.

"I wonder if they worshipped _black_ cats, you know?" Alya wondered aloud. "Because in almost every culture, black cats are associated with bad luck. I wonder why that is. Don't you, Adrien?"

Adrien's mouth felt dry. "Yeah. I wonder."

Alya merely smiled, absentmindedly pulling out her phone.

Heart racing with anxiety, Adrien returned his attention to his book. _She knows, she knows, she knows_ was all his mind could think about. Alya spoke again, but this time directed towards Marinette. Adrien glanced up at Nino, who seemed like he had begun picking up on what Alya was trying to do as well, and he did not look very happy about it.

"Hey Mari, check out this cute dress I found on Etsy!" Alya said, pushing the phone closer towards Marinette.

Marinette's face paled at the sight of the dress. "It's...ladybug printed," she commented.

"I know, right! I just _love_ ladybug print. I would wear it on my clothes more often but it doesn't suit me." Alya said dismissively. She took her phone back, then continued. "But I think _you_ would look great in ladybug print! I could just imagine you in a red outfit with black spots—you could pull it off with no problem."

"Thanks, Alya," Marinette said, forcing a smile. Adrien could tell that he wasn't the only one freaked out right now.

Adrien could feel himself sweating. He saw Marinette pull out her phone, so he did the same. This was the only way they could communicate right now without Alya knowing.

"She knows?" Alya inquired out loud, reading something on her phone.

Marinette froze, looking back at her phone, her eyes wide. Adrien quickly processed what had happened. Marinette must have accidentally sent the text to Alya in her panic, assuming that Alya was the last person she texted.

"I meant to send that to my mom." Marinette blushed, then quickly offered an explanation. "She was asking if Alix knew to pick up her cake from the bakery after school."

Alya just chuckled. "Marinette, relax. I never asked for an explanation. You and Adrien look like you need some fresh air."

Adrien knew that Marinette had meant to send that text to him. This didn't help their case _at all_. If anything, this just gave Alya even more proof against them. He glanced at Nino, who seemed to be looking between Adrien and Marinette with suspicion.

 _Great, even Nino is starting to believe Alya,_ Adrien thought, wishing he could just disappear.

For a fleeting moment, Adrien wondered if he could just admit the truth to his two friends right now and be over with it. There weren't any other people within earshot. Sure, he might be stepping headfirst into Alya's trap, but he would feel so much more relieved. He was tired of lying. He was tired of keeping secrets.

Adrien knew that Alya was giving them an opportunity to tell her the truth themselves. Was that such a bad thing? Maybe if they begged Alya enough, she wouldn't tell the whole world who they were...

But he couldn't make that decision on his own. Marinette was his partner, among other things, and he couldn't just throw it all away without asking her first. She valued their secrecy more than he did. Heck, if Marinette had been more like him, perhaps they wouldn't have been stupidly oblivious to each other's identities for more than a year. It had taken the most perfect alignment of the stars and pure chance to figure out who the girl behind the mask truly was.

Adrien figured that it was only a matter of time until someone else besides him and Marinette figured out their secret. But was it all about to unfold so soon? He didn't know if he was ready.

 

* * *

 

Much to Marinette's relief, the rest of the school day went on as usual. She had made it to the last class of the day—chemistry—without either her own or Adrien's identity being revealed. Marinette figured that she had been overreacting. Maybe Alya didn't know, and they were both freaking out for no reason. Perhaps Alya had suspected it at first and then realized that the prospect of her two friends being superheroes was downright insane.

Either way, Marinette had managed to relax significantly by now. Even Adrien seemed to have calmed down as the school day was about to come to a close.

The current task at hand involved phenolphthalein and figuring out which liquids reacted with it in order to figure out which substances could be classified as acidic. Marinette, Adrien, Nino, and Alya shared the same lab station, so they were all working together. Adrien, being the natural-born scientist that he was (or nerd for short,) was happily doing most of the practical lab work while the rest of them took notes.

Their chemistry teacher, Madame Moreau, was extremely strict about lab safety and protocol. Kim had nearly been suspended a few weeks ago for daring Alix to drink a solution of Potassium Chloride (which was technically harmless and non-fatal,) and she had flipped out when Rose had accidentally broke five beakers all at once.

Needless to say, it was easy to make her angry. Marinette made sure that her goggles were on properly, that her hair was tied back, and her sleeves were rolled up at all times. She didn't want to face her wrath.

"We need more distilled water," Adrien said, stirring the beaker with the glass rod.

"I'll go get it," Alya piped up, turning around and heading for the table with materials.

While Alya was away, Marinette moved in closer to check for a reaction, while Adrien took this as a perfect opportunity for puns.

"Hey Marinette, do you have 11 protons?" Adrien asked.

"What?"

"Because you're _sodium_ fine," Adrien said, smiling wickedly at his own cleverness.

Both Marinette and Nino looked at him with the most exhasperated expression ever.

"Do you guys know what my favorite type of ion is? A _cat-_ ion. An ion with a _paw_ -sitive charge," Adrien continued, to which Marinette took the beaker away from him and began stirring herself.

"You're terrible," was all she said, wondering what she had done to deserve living in nonstop pun hell. _You're lucky you're gorgeous, you stupid cat._ Marinette thought.

"Sorry, Marinette. Good thing our chemistry has an unbreakable bond," he said, smirking slightly, as if thoroughly enjoying Marinette's reactions to his ridiculousness.

When she and Adrien had become lab partners at the beginning of the year, she hadn't known that _this_ was what she was getting herself into. If she had known that Adrien was Chat Noir in September, she would have begged Alya on her knees to be with her instead of Nino. The naive Marinette of back then didn't know that Adrien/Chat + science = horrible jokes.

Marinette saw that Alya was returning with the distilled water. As she approached them, she ran into Chloe who was standing at the adjacent lab station, stirring a beaker of water like she normally did to make it seem like she was helping. Her lab group consisted of Sabrina, Max, and Kim, who were currently doing all the work.

"Oops, sorry Chloe!" Alya said, as the water spilled onto Chloe's shirt.

"Ugh, watch where you're going you _brat_!" she screeched, accidentally knocking over the set of test tubes with chemicals in it as she stood up to confront Alya.

"Chloe, be careful!" Max shouted, who seemed to be upset over having to measure and mix the chemicals all over again.

"It's not _me_ who has to be careful, it's _her_!" Chloe stated angrily, pointing an accusatory finger towards Alya.

"I said I'm sorry. I'll go get some paper towels so that you can dry off." Alya said calmly. A little _too_ calmly, if Marinette thought about it.

When Alya was heading over to the desk with the roll of paper towels, her foot got caught on one of the lab stools, which tipped over the stool beside it. Juleka tripped and fell on the falling stool, causing the beakers and test tubes at her own lab table to crash down. Shattered glass covered the floor beside the lab station, and Chloe simply made matters worse.

"See! Look what she did! And you're blaming _me_ for this?" Chloe said, who was now practically yelling.

"Just shut up, Chloe," Kim said, who was still busy cleaning up the chemicals that she had spilled.

Meanwhile, Alix was pissed at the mess she had to deal with after Juleka had broke the glass at her lab table.

"I'm not gonna clean any of this up. This is all Juleka's fault!" she said angrily, crossing her arms and refusing to move.

"Juleka didn't do this, it was Alya! She made the stools fall!" Rose said defensively.

Mylene had started crying at the scene that was unfolding before her, as practically everyone in the classroom began arguing and yelling at each other over who was responsible for which mess. Occasional cries of "Shut up!" and "Make me!" Could be heard among the chaos.

Nobody had noticed the tiny black butterfly that flew in through the small crack underneath the window.

"ENOUGH!" A loud voice shouted from the front of the new, silencing everyone in the classroom.

Madame Moreau was gone. In her place stood what appeared to be a mad scientist. She had a long, white lab coat and white hair that stood up as if it had been electrocuted. Her goggles had been replaced by black ones with green glass that covered her eyes, and she appeared to be wearing a green and black jumpsuit underneath her labcoat with a biohazard symbol on it.

Chloe screamed first, and panic ensued among the students once more. People began flipping over lab tables and hiding behind them, and Kim tried throwing a lab stool towards the Akuma villain. The mad scientist merely cackled, and with a light flick of the wrist she was able to create a magnetic force field that acted as a shield. The stool bounced back and hadn't even come close to its target.

"Pathetic! It will take much more than _that_ to defeat Doctor Hazard" she laughed wickedly. "You nasty children deserve to be punished for all the trouble you caused me!"

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a knowing glance, then ran as fast they could towards the door just as Doctor Hazard approached the terrified students who were hiding behind their lab stations. Luckily for them, their lab station had been the one closest to the door.

 

* * *

 

Alya had been waiting for Marinette and Adrien to leave the classroom, as she knew they certainly would in the presence of an Akumatized villain. She felt guilty for what she had done; creating chaos among her fellow classmates, knowing full well that Madame Moreau would undoubtedly be vulnerable to being Akumatized. The woman was so high-strung, however, that Alya figured it was only a matter of time until she became Akumatized. She had paid careful attention to when Akuma attacks typically happened—it was usually around this time, late into the afternoon. Alya had known that this would be the perfect opportunity.

At least she knew that everyone was going to be alright. After all, with Ladybug and Chat Noir in the classroom the entire time, how could they not be? Alya had tried to give them the opportunity to fess up during study hall earlier today, but they had refused. She had feared that it would have to come to this, but Alya knew that this was the only way the truth could come out.

And it was finally time. Alya saw Marinette and Adrien exchange a look before they bolted out of the classroom, but she was prepared.

"Come on!" she said, grabbing Nino by the arm and running after her two friends.

"What the—" he said, confused as she dragged him out of the classroom.

The classroom door closed behind them, while Alya looked back and forth in the empty hallway. She heard footsteps around the nearest corner, and she ran towards the corner with Nino behind her.

"Why are we running away? You _never_ run from an Akuma attack," Nino said, panting as he tried to keep up with his girlfriend. He was confused but still shaken from what had just happened in the classroom. "We have to warn the principal of what just happened—" he began, but then stopped as the two arrived at the hallway that had been around the corner

Nino and Alya stood at the end of the hallway, finding Adrien and Marinette in the middle. They both froze in shock at seeing Nino and Alya there. Alya was surprised to see two fairy-like creatures floating besides her two friends, who also seemed to have an expression of surprise.

"You two better transform before things get worse," Alya said, trying to hide the satisfaction from her voice. _Busted._

Marinette sighed in defeat, then turned to face Adrien. "Let's just do this. There's no point in hiding it any longer, and our classmates need us right now," she said, and the two exchanged a final, sad look that suddenly made Alya feel guilty at the situation she had put them in.

"Tikki, spots on!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

Alya watched as her two best friends transformed in front of her very eyes, glancing at Nino who had a slack-jawed expression, eyes wide with shock at what he was seeing.

After a sequence of blinding, swirling light, In their place stood Ladybug and Chat Noir. They ran off towards the classroom, but Ladybug stopped for a moment in front of Alya before she did.

"I'm so sorry," she said, her blue eyes begging for forgiveness. Almost two years of lies and secrets had finally been put to an end. Alya simply looked back at her, not knowing what to say.

The two superheroes had now run off without another word, leaving Alya and Nino alone in the empty hallway. Nino looked at his girlfriend, speechless. Even Alya, who had anticipated this chain of events and had even planned it out, was now truly taking in and processing it all.

Marinette was Ladybug.

Adrien was Chat Noir.

She had suspected it for the past three days. So why did she feel so shocked all over again? What did this mean for her friendship? Alya was worried that perhaps she hadn't thought this all through like she thought she had. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note, I chose different names for their teachers because in this story they're a grade level higher than what we saw in season 1, so I assume they wouldn't have the same teachers! (Hence why they were in chemistry and not physics.) Anyway, looks like the chat is out of the bag for Adrien and Marinette! I apologize for my awful chemistry puns btw. The next chapter will be the last one, but I promise there will be a happy ending! I've also been planning another fic that will be much longer than this one and it will be one of your average romantic reveal fics but I've got some specific scenes planned out and I'm super excited to write it! At the end of the final chapter of this story I will post the summary for my next fic and I hope you will all continue to follow my work and will give it a shot! Please comment, follow, fave, leave kudos, etc. :)
> 
> -Y


	7. Chapter 7

When Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived at the classroom, they were met with cheers from their classmates. Most of them were still hiding behind tipped over lab tables, while Doctor Hazard gripped Chloe’s arm firmly. Chloe looked terrified, but her eyes lit up at the sight of her favorite superhero.

“Ladybug, save me!” she cried out.

“Hand over your miraculouses before I turn this girl into particles!” Doctor Hazard declared.  
  
“Not so fast!” Chat Noir said, springing into action before the villain had time to react. He snatched Chloe away from the mad scientist’s grip, gently setting her down beside the rest of her classmates. He used his baton to fling a lab stool towards the villain, which was deflected easily by Doctor Hazard.

While Doctor Hazard was distracted by Chat Noir flinging stools at her, Ladybug took this as an opportunity to get closer to the villain.

“Chat Noir! The Akuma must be in her goggles!” Ladybug shouted. She was just about to move in and grab it, when another force field pushed her towards the wall. Doctor Hazard used her force field to levitate one of the lab tables, and then flung it towards Ladybug, who was still recovering from being shoved into the wall.

“LADYBUG!” Chat Noir shouted. He activated his cataclysm, then ran towards the table just before it hit Ladybug full force, turning it into black ash. He offered an arm to help her up, and the two quickly put some space between them and Doctor Hazard.

“We need to wrap this up quickly. Lucky charm!” Ladybug shouted. She waved her yo-yo, hoping that whatever item she received was something she could figure out quickly. In her hands landed a tennis ball.

“Perfect, let’s throw a tennis ball at her. Hope she knows how to play,” Chat said sarcastically.

Ladybug examined her surroundings, wondering how she could use it to take Doctor Hazard’s goggles away from her. She knew that Doctor Hazard simply deflected everything that was thrown at her—how could she use that to her advantage?

It all suddenly fell into place—she knew what to do. “Chat, stand over there!” Ladybug shouted, pointing towards the lab stations where her classmates were. Chat did as she ordered, his baton ready.  
  
“You think you can defeat me with a _tennis ball_ ?” The mad scientist cackled, raising an arm to push Ladybug with her force field again.  
  
“Don’t _ever_ make the mistake of underestimating me,” Ladybug said, not knowing where the sudden surge of confidence had come from. “Batter up, Chat!”

Ladybug threw the ball towards Chat, who managed to hit it right towards Doctor Hazard’s face. The ball knocked her goggles squarely off her face, but Ladybug had been waiting right in position. She picked up the goggles and broke them easily with her hands. The black butterfly flew out, and with her yo-yo she purified it.

With another twirl above her head, she used her miraculous ladybug to set the classroom back into shape. There were no longer fallen stools and tables, shattered glass, or spilled chemicals. The room no longer looked like a disaster zone. Madame Moreau was back to normal, and she blinked in surprise when he saw the two superheroes standing in front of her.

“Pound it!” they said, and cheers erupted from the classroom.

“That was EPIC!” Alix shouted.

“You’re both so awesome!” Rose said, practically squealing in excitement.  
  
“Ladybug, can you sign this autograph?” Nathanael piped in.

“Chat Noir, can you take a selfie with me? Please?” Sabrina begged, running up towards him and taking a picture before he was ready.

After what felt very much like a celebrity meet-and-greet, the two realized that it was time to leave. Ladybug dreaded the _other_ matter she had to deal with...at least Nino and Alya were safely hiding out in the hallway.

They ran out of the classroom, quickly de-transforming before heading towards the hallway where they had revealed their identities to Nino and Alya. Marinette was dreading the confrontation, but it was completely unavoidable.

“Is everyone okay?” Nino asked as soon as they arrived at the empty hallway.

“Yeah, everyone’s fine,” Adrien confirmed.

Alya was sitting beside a set of lockers, her arms wrapped around her knees while she stared blankly at the space in front of her. She hadn’t even looked up at their arrival.

Marinette glanced at the clock on a nearby wall, seeing that there were only twenty minutes left until school ended. She knew that they should be returning to class, but after what had just happened, she doubted that the rules would be at the forefront of Madame Moreau’s mind. Since the school was so prone to Akuma attacks, Principal Damocles was often very accommodating when it came to absences that occurred as a result of them.

“There’s an empty classroom just down this hall. We should head over there to talk,” Marinette suggested.  
  
“What’s there to talk about?” Alya asked, still not looking up. Marinette ignored her friend’s unwillingness. She walked over towards her and grabbed her arm, pulling her up so that she was standing.

“We’re all going, no exceptions,” Marinette said firmly.

 

* * *

 

The four of them arrived at the empty classroom, but none of them had spoken yet. Alya seated herself at a desk near the front, and Nino sat down beside her. Marinette and Adrien stayed standing at the front of the classroom, leaning against the teacher’s desk and facing their friends.

After another brief moment of silence, Alya finally spoke up. “I never meant to expose you. I just wanted to know the truth.”

She still didn’t look up to face her friends. Alya felt a mix of shame and guilt for what she had done, but at the same time she felt emotionally wounded at the fact that her best friends didn’t trust her with what could possibly be classified as the biggest secret on earth. A small part of her had hoped that she had guessed wrong about Adrien and Marinette.  
  
“I should have told you the truth,” Marinette said earnestly. “It’s just that with the Ladyblog and everything…”  
  
Alya chuckled humorlessly. “Of course. The girl who runs the Ladyblog is the last person you would want to trust. I understand.”

Nino finally spoke up, looking towards Adrien. “Bro, I don’t even know who you are anymore. What the _hell_?”

“I’m so sorry Nino, I wanted to tell you the truth. I swear I did. I just...couldn’t.” Adrien said apologetically.

“You just...couldn’t? What kind of lame-o excuse is that?” Nino said incredulously. “You spend your days jumping across rooftops and fighting freaky-ass villains, putting your life in danger all the fucking time, but I don’t deserve to know? You said it yourself! You said I was your best friend.”  
  
“Listen,” Adrien said, addressing the two of them. “I know this is a lot to take in. And I know that asking you both not to be mad is too much to ask. But please, let me put it into perspective. Our _parents_ don’t even know. For over a year, _I_ didn’t even know that Marinette was Ladybug! And Marinette didn’t know that I was Chat Noir. Can you imagine it? We didn’t even know each other’s identities even though we were partners!” he explained, looking hopefully towards them.

Alya was shocked to hear that they had been oblivious to each other’s identities for so long. But it made sense...when Marinette was infatuated with Adrien last year, it wouldn’t make sense for her to be if she knew him as Chat Noir. And didn’t Nino tell her that Adrien was obsessed with Ladybug?  
  
The irony of the situation was almost too much for Alya to bear. Had her two best friends really been trapped in a love square for over a year, _completely_ oblivious to each other’s identities? Despite the current situation, it all seemed downright hilarious.

“What we’re both trying to say is that we’re really, really, sorry,” Marinette said.

Alya felt dizzy. Her brain was going into overdrive, putting all the pieces together. _This_ was why she had caught Marinette kissing Chat Noir. _This_ was why Adrien was caught kissing Ladybug. They had never been cheating on each other. _It was the same two people all along._

Oh god, she owed Adrien an apology. She had written so many horrible things about him. Alya had been so quick to judge over the past week, making assumptions and blaming both of her friends for being unfaithful to each other, getting mixed up in matters that she had no business in.

She had been an awful friend. She had driven her classmates into chaos and knowingly made her teacher vulnerable to being akumatized. She had endangered everyone and then put her two friends on the spot. Alya couldn’t even imagine all the stress she had put them through when she taunted them about knowing their identities earlier today.

The emotions kept piling up. Betrayal. Guilt. Shame. Confusion.

And before she knew it, she was crying. Tears welled up in her eyes, and then she was audibly sobbing. She felt someone embrace her into a hug.

“Alya, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m really, really sorry—” Marinette said softly, but Alya cut her off.

“N-no, stop apologizing. I-it was my fault. _I_ should be the one apologizing,” she said, her voice strained by her sobs.

“What are you talking about? None of this is your fault,” Marinette said gently.

“It is! It’s all my fault! _I’m_ the one who caused the akuma attack! I purposely spilled water onto Chloe’s shirt. I purposely made Juleka break all of those beakers. I knew that Madame Moreau would get mad and there was a high risk of her getting akumatized. It was all my fault and I put everyone in danger. I wasn’t thinking straight and I was just so focused on finding the truth,” she sniffled. “A-and I posted all of that awful stuff about Adrien and I gave you both such a hard time over nothing, accusing you of cheating when it was none of my business—”

“Alya, slow down. Take a deep breath," Marinette said, trying to console her.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, wiping away her tears.

“And here I was thinking that _I_ would have to do all of the apologizing," Adrien said under his breath.

Marinette looked her friend in the eyes when she spoke again. “It was wrong of you to put everyone in danger like that, but I think you know that now. It was reckless and kind of selfish,” she said, but then continued.

“Having said that, I lied to your face for almost two years. It wasn’t just a one time thing like what you did. You trusted me with so many secrets and I never trusted you with the one secret that’s such a big part of who I am. If I forgive you, will you forgive me?” Marinette asked, the sincerity written all over her face.

Alya looked up, then wiped the tears from her eyes. “Deal.”

Now it was Adrien’s turn. He turned towards Nino, who was looking at him with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry Nino. Lying to you wasn’t cool. We good now?” Adrien asked hopefully, rubbing his neck nervously.

Nino chuckled. “It’s all good bro. Just when I thought you couldn’t get any freakier…”

Boys were ridiculous. She and Marinette had just exchanged heartfelt, tearful apologies while Adrien and Nino were all settled after what could simply be translated as a “we cool fam?”  
  
The bell finally rang, signaling the end of the school day. The four teenagers got up to leave, not knowing how they would move forward after such a momentous revelation.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow," Adrien said, standing up straighter and heading towards the door. He had fencing on monday after school.

As for tomorrow, how would things change? Alya had only wanted things to return to normal, but could they ever truly be normal again? When she had assumed that Adrien and Marinette were going through a rough patch, she had feared that she was losing her two friends and that the four of them would never be able to hang out together as a group again. But after all of this, had she made things worse? Only time would tell, Alya figured.

 

* * *

 

Days had passed since Adrien and Marinette had revealed their secret identities to their friends. It was now the weekend, and the four of them planned on getting together for the first time that week outside of school. Jagged Stone was in Paris once again for the first time this year, and they had all bought their tickets months in advance.

They had decided to stop by Florian's Ice Cream Parlour before they went to the event stadium, since the concert wasn’t starting for another three hours. Marinette was pumped for the event, and was enjoying the time spent with Adrien, Alya, and Nino. Earlier this week, she had feared the revelation would somehow cause problems for the event they had all been waiting for since January. To her surprise, it had only strengthened their friendships.

“Mari, Adrien—look at this fan art someone submitted to the Ladyblog,” Alya said, showing them a drawing of Ladybug and Chat Noir embracing each other in a loving hug. Submissions had been blowing up after Alya posted a new interview onto her blog, in which Ladybug revealed that she and Chat Noir were dating as civilians. Marinette had insisted on it, saying that it was the least she could do since Alya could never publicly reveal her identity, depriving her of her biggest scoop.

For Ladynoir fans, however, the mere confirmation that their favorite superhero couple were dating in their ordinary lives was enough to send them into a frenzy. Alya had never gotten so many hits on one post. On Tuesday, she had also issued a public apology to Chat Noir for the things she had posted about him last week. That, however, was just for her public image. Alya had apologized to Adrien in person, smothering him into a hug and promising never to be a “judgemental jerk” ever again.

Adrien scoffed when he saw the drawing. “They drew the heights all wrong. I’m _much_ taller than Mari, the difference shown in this picture isn’t enough.”  
  
Marinette smacked her boyfriend on the arm. “The drawing is beautiful. Don’t let your fragile ego get in the way of seeing that.”  
  
Adrien pouted at her statement. “I do _not_ have a fragile ego! I just...like accuracy!” he said defensively.  
  
“Sure you do,” Marinette said, rolling her eyes.

“She’s got a point, dude,” Nino said, spooning a large bite of chocolate ice cream into his mouth.  
  
Marinette saw Alya smiling as she looked at her and Adrien together, bickering over Adrien’s supposed fragile ego. “You know, it’s pretty amazing and kind of ironic how my favorite superhero couple turned out to be my two best friends. I’m still trying to get over how insane that all is.”  
  
“You know, it’s because of you that Mari and I got so close before we found out who each other was,” Adrien admitted. “As the self-proclaimed Ladynoir queen, you contributed more to our relationship than you could have ever realized.”

“I helped set you up too!” Nino said defensively.  
  
“I think you’re forgetting the time you had a crush on me and asked Adrien to help ask me out on a date,” Marinette responded, a slight smirk on her face. She was referring to the day that the Animan incident occurred. “Kind of the opposite of setting us up, don’t you think?”

“Okay, well, that was before,” he said, shaking his head and chuckling at the memory.

“Looking back, that day was a complete mess,” Adrien said. “I can’t believe I was trying to set you up with _my_ girl!”

“Wait, but that means I have Mari to thank for locking me and Nino up in that cage!” Alya said in realization. “God, we were all so clueless back then.”

“What I’m still trying to understand is that you were both in a _love square_. Like, how is that even possible?” Nino said incredulously.

“I’ll tell you how.” Alya said, a mischievous smile on her face. “Throwback to last-year Marinette. ‘Alya, guess what! Adrien _looked_ at me today! He actually said good morning to me! I can’t believe it what do you think it all means?’”  
  
Adrien was grinning ear-to-ear, while Marinette just groaned in mortification.  
  
“Aw, Mari, you had it _bad_ for me!” he said, nudging her annoyingly with his elbow. “Did you ever write about me in your diary? Did ya? Come on, how bad was it—”  
  
“One more word and I’ll push you off a building next time we’re on patrol.” she responded in a deadpan voice.

“Come on guys, let’s not be so harsh on Mari,” Nino said casually. “Let’s not forget that Adrien used to have a secret stash of Ladybug merch in his room. One time I told him not to set his standards so high, because he was pining over who I assumed was an unattainable badass superhero—which you still totally are, Marinette—and he looked _so_ offended. I thought he didn’t want to be friends anymore. I swear I caught him trying to hide a t-shirt that said ‘I heart Ladybug’ on it.”

Now it was Adrien’s turn to look embarrassed. “I have no idea what t-shirt you’re referring to. There’s no such thing”  
  
Marinette looked at Adrien with a smug smile on her face. Adrien blushed. “It’s okay, kitty. Looks like we’re even.”

It really wasn’t new information for either of them, they knew that they both had strong feelings for each other even before their identity reveal. However, that didn’t stop them from making fun of each other over it. Letting Alya and Nino into their inside jokes just added to the fun.

“Real talk though, how do you guys get anything done in those tight suits? If I had to save the city with Alya, and she was wearing a suit like that, I would be too distracted to get anything done.”  
  
“ _Nino_!” Alya scolded, whacking his arm with her phone.

“ _I’m_ the one who stays focused. Adrien finds it more difficult,” Marinette said, taking a spoonful of strawberry ice cream.

“Nuh-uh! Don’t pretend I haven’t caught you looking at my abs before,” Adrien said defensively.

“Shut up, I’ve caught you staring at places you shouldn’t be plenty of times before,” Marinette retorted back. “You act like I don’t notice.”

“This is surreal. I never thought I would witness Ladybug and Chat Noir bickering over something like this,” Nino said in awe. “It’s been these two dorks this whole time.”

“You really shouldn’t have fired them up with that question,” Alya snickered, stealing a cherry from Nino’s ice cream sundae, watching Adrien and Marinette now engaging in a tickle fight, which they tended to do every time they got into meaningless banter.

Marinette was now breathless as Adrien jabbed his fingers into her waist. “S-stop! You win!” she said, her cheeks hurting from laughing. The two regained composure, both feeling a weird sense of euphoria at how perfect everything was in that moment.

Here they were, four friends out having a good time, no secrets, no lies. Marinette never realized how much hiding her alter-ego from Nino and Alya had been weighing her down for so long. She felt so _free,_  and she was sure that Adrien felt the same way.

“We better get going, the concert is about to start and we should get there early,” Alya said, checking the time on her phone.

The four of them got up from their seats, and Marinette picked up her small purse that contained both Plagg and Tikki. She was the last one to get up, but her foot got caught under her seat and she would have collapsed face-first onto the floor if Alya hadn’t caught her.

“Woah there, watch your step,” Alya said, her hands on Marinette’s shoulders.

The boys walked together in front while Marinette and Alya headed out behind them. Alya made sure no one else was in earshot when she spoke. “Well, Miss Ladybug, you sure are the personification of grace and poise," she smirked.

“I know, I know. I bet my clumsiness was why you never suspected me,” Marinette said as they walked out of the ice cream shop.  
  
“That was part of it. But Marinette, I want to make one thing clear,” she said, suddenly taking on a more serious tone. “I don’t want you to think that me knowing your secret changes anything about our friendship. You’re still you and I want you to know that I know that, okay?” Alya looked at her with the utmost sincerity.

Marinette had been worried about this recently, and hearing Alya say this had put at her at ease. It was something she didn’t know that she needed to hear. Then she smiled and grabbed Alya’s arm, linking their arms together as they walked.  
  
“I want you to know something too. You’re the best friend I could have ever asked for,” Marinette said.

Marinette realized that the the boys had been listening in. Adrien nudged Nino playfully. “Got anything nice to say to me as well, Nino?”  
  
“Not really, catboy. Just wondering, though, should I buy you a ball of yarn for Christmas this year?” Nino responded snarkily.

Marinette realized that night, that no matter how big the secret, no matter how many mistakes and misunderstandings made along the way, true friendships could sustain anything.  
  
**The End.**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Understandably, a major concern that many of you had in the last chapter was how Alya caused the Akuma. I hope that I portrayed her guilt adequately enough, and that Marinette's response was realistic in the sense that she told her that what she did was wrong, but was also gentle about because she would never scold Alya harshly. I never meant to convey Alya as the bad guy, just someone desperate for the truth who went about it the wrong way. We all make mistakes when our emotions take over.
> 
> I would like to thank all of you for the incredible response this fic has gotten. This was my first fanfic for Miraculous Ladybug and I was pretty sure that it would end up not getting noticed by anyone but I’m so glad that I was wrong. Because of the success of Scandalous! I’m super pumped to begin my next ML fanfic which will be an enemies AU where Chat Noir is a villain who works for Hawkmoth. I’ve seen the enemies AU idea being thrown around all over the fandom and it’s something I really want to write. Once school starts again (senior year! yay!!) in August I’ll probably be reaalllyyyy slow with updates.
> 
> I've also planned a prequel for this story which will be titled "Twice Fallen." It should be posted by tomorrow.
> 
> Anyway, this has been a really long author’s note, I’m just rambling at this point! Basically I have really enjoyed writing this story. Thank you for all the support and I hope you will give my future fics a try. If you are on tumblr please follow my blog, my username is “mocharetti" just like it is here. Please review, leave kudos, follow, fave, etc. :)
> 
> -Y


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